Home › Glossary › Letter M

Metatextuality

Concept
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

A literary device where a text self-consciously refers to itself as a text, breaking the fourth wall

Detailed Definition
Metatextuality is a self-referential poetic strategy where the poem explicitly comments on its own construction, language, or status as text, often questioning the nature of representation, authorship, or reading; this reflexive mode, central to postmodernism, may include direct address to the reader, discussions of the writing process, or playful disruptions of textual illusion, as in the work of John Ashbery.
Example
Example in poetry:
Metatextuality: "This poem knows it’s a poem—and winks"; "Words on a page pretending to be feeling"; "Reader, you’re trapped in my stanza now"; "I write about writing this very line"
Additional Notes
Postmodern term for texts commenting on or transforming other texts. Related: intertextuality, allusion, parody. Tip: Ranges from direct commentary to implicit transformation—analyze degree of explicit versus implicit engagement.
Also Known As
Text about text Self-reference Meta-commentary Reflexive writing
Skip to main content