Home › Glossary › Letter M

Martin Opitz

Literary Character
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

German poet who established rules for German verse in "Buch von der Deutschen Poeterey"

Detailed Definition
Opitz’s 1624 treatise standardized German metrics and elevated the vernacular, laying groundwork for Baroque and later poetry. In poetry, he appears as a linguistic reformer, symbolizing the professionalization of German letters and the poet as cultural architect in the early modern period.
Example
Example in poetry:
Martin Opitz’s "Buch von der Deutschen Poeterey" constructs the poet as rule-giver for German verse; His psalms adapt biblical characters into Baroque devotional voice; Opitz’s translations give classical figures (e.g., Seneca) German poetic form; His persona blends scholar and craftsman in early modern poetry.
Additional Notes
Martin Opitz, the “father of German poetry,” codified poetic norms in his "Buch von der Deutschen Poeterey"; his literary characters adhere to classical decorum, making him key for understanding how theoretical prescriptions shape poetic persona in early modern Germany.
Also Known As
Martin Opitz von Boberfeld
Skip to main content