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natural breathing line

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

A poetic line formed according to ordinary inhalation-exhalation cycle

Detailed Definition
A natural breathing line structures verse according to the intuitive rhythms of inhalation and exhalation, prioritizing physiological authenticity over formal meter to create a sense of immediacy, intimacy, or unmediated expression in the poetic voice.
Example
Example in poetry:
A sentence broken into lines that follows the natural rhythm of human speech; The lines end at syntactical units (e.g., after a clause or phrase) rather than forced metrical breaks; Free verse where the poet uses lineation to mimic the pattern and flow of thought or speaking aloud; The line "I wandered lonely as a cloud" follows a smooth, conversational rhythm, where a natural pause occurs at the line end;
Additional Notes
natural breathing line: Synonym for natural breath line (5803); a line length determined by physiological capacity, giving the poem an organic, speech-like rhythm; common in the work of William Carlos Williams.
Also Known As
breathing line life-pause line breath-marked verse Breath-line
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