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Mortise

Craft Terms
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

A mortise is a deliberate opening made to receive another poetic element securely.

Detailed Definition
In craft discussion, a mortise is a shaped gap in a poem that invites a particular image, sound, silence, or line to enter. A stanza may prepare a semantic opening for a final word, or a pause may create room for an unstated emotional fact. The term emphasizes fit: the arriving element should feel held by the surrounding structure rather than casually inserted. Strong mortises make surprise seem inevitable because the poem has quietly prepared the space for it.
Example
Example in poetry:
A mortise is a shaped opening that receives another element, and a poem can use a central absence as a mortise for memory or meaning; In a sequence, each poem may leave a deliberate gap that the next poem fills, creating a mortise between sections; A refrain can create a mortise by making space for changing words to fit around it; The blank space after a final line may function as a mortise, receiving the reader’s unanswered interpretation
Additional Notes
Borrowed from woodworking, mortise names a receiving space: a planned gap, pause, or structural opening prepared for another element. A poem can create a mortise through a question awaiting an answer, an incomplete image, a syntactic suspension, or a missing stanza. The opening gains force when the arriving element fits but does not merely repeat it. Mortise works closely with tenon, silence, and enjambment.
Also Known As
Mortice
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