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Measure interference

Meter
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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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

The disruption or alteration of a poem’s regular metrical pattern through irregular stresses, pauses, or substitutions that affect rhythm and flow

Detailed Definition
Measure interference occurs when two or more competing metrical patterns interact within a poem, creating rhythmic tension or ambiguity; this may arise from conflicting stress patterns, mixed meters, or syncopation, producing a dynamic prosody that mirrors psychological conflict, cultural hybridity, or linguistic instability in innovative or modernist verse.
Example
Example in poetry:
T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land” uses measure interference by mixing meters and languages; Emily Dickinson’s hymn meter is disrupted by slant rhyme and dashes; Contemporary poet M. NourbeSe Philip’s “Zong!” interferes with legal text’s measure through erasure; Sylvia Plath’s “Lady Lazarus” interferes with nursery rhyme measure through Holocaust imagery; Walt Whitman’s cataloging interferes with traditional measure through organic cadence; Ocean Vuong’s “Time Is a Mother” interferes with elegiac measure through theoretical fragments.
Additional Notes
Measure interference|meter|Conflict between expected meter and actual rhythm heightening alertness or tension. Related to substitution; tip: intentional for emphasis; scan to identify effects.
Also Known As
Metrical dissonance Rhythmic interference Prosodic clash Meter collision Hypermetric interruption
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