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Nine-count 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 structured around nine syllables, often employed in syllabic verse traditions to create rhythmic regularity without strict stress patterns.

Detailed Definition
A line counted as containing nine units, whether syllables, stresses, or metrical feet, depending on the measurement system employed. The specific nature of what is counted determines whether nine refers to syllabic units, stress units, or foot units. This neutral term describes the numerical measure without specifying the counting method, acknowledging that different prosodic systems measure differently while all arriving at nine as the line count.
Example
Example in poetry:
Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” includes nine-count lines like “I celebrate myself, and sing myself” (9 syllables); Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” opens with a nine-count line: “Because I could not stop for Death –”; Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” uses “You do not do, you do not do” (9 syllables) to establish obsessive rhythm; Langston Hughes’ “Harlem” ends with the nine-count question: “Or does it explode?”; Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool” uses “We / Left school” as part of a larger nine-count structure across enjambment; Ocean Vuong’s “Someday I’ll love Ocean Vuong” includes “Ocean, don’t be afraid” (9 syllables) as a self-addressed nine-count line.
Additional Notes
Line counted as having nine units, whether syllables, feet, or beats. Measurement system determines whether focus is on syllables, stresses, or metrical feet in counting to nine.
Also Known As
Nine-unit line Enneadic measure Nine-part verse Ninefold line Enneasyllable
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