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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
A figure of speech that implicitly equates two unlike things to reveal hidden similarities, deepening meaning without using “like” or “as.”
Explore this topic in depth (3)
Metaphysical Poetry
— Metaphysical poetry brings love, faith, science, death and the body into unusually close contact. Its poets—especially John Donne, George Herbert and Andrew Marvell—make poems that think aloud, argue fiercely and discover emotional force in surprising comparisons.
How to Read a Poem
— Poetry is not a puzzle with one hidden answer that only experts can decode. Begin by noticing what a poem actually does: read it, hear it, question it, and return to it.
Nature Poetry
— Nature poetry is not simply poetry with scenery in it. Across centuries and cultures, poets have used birds, weather, gardens, oceans, seasons and stars to test what it means to be human—and to meet a world that may not be human-centred at all.
Detailed Definition
Metaphor is a figure of speech that directly equates two unlike things to reveal hidden similarities (“All the world’s a stage”), bypassing “like” or “as” (which define simile); it is fundamental to poetic thought, enabling compression, insight, and imaginative transformation, from Homer’s “rosy-fingered dawn” to Plath’s “mirror.”
Metaphor: A direct comparison between unlike things without “like” or “as” (e.g., “Time is a thief”); foundational to poetic language; differs from simile in its implicit, fused logic.