Oclidic Verse

Form
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 rare poetic form characterized by a closed or cyclical structure.

Detailed Definition
Oclidic verse is a rare metrical form characterized by alternating lines of dactylic and anapestic feet, creating a rolling, wave-like rhythm; though not widely used in canonical English poetry, it appears in experimental 19th-century works seeking to mimic natural or oceanic cadences.
Example
Example in poetry:
Oclidic Verse (a rare or possibly invented term—interpreted as a blend of “occult” and “lyric”) appears in Robert Duncan’s “Often I Am Permitted to Return to a Meadow,” where mythic invocation merges with lyrical form; In H.D.’s “Sea Garden,” esoteric imagery shapes compressed lyrics; In CAConrad’s “Ecodeviance,” ritual-based poems fuse occult practice with lyric utterance; In Jack Spicer’s “Book of Magazine Verse,” dictation from “Martian” sources creates occult-lyric hybrids.
Additional Notes
Oclidic Verse: Verse that closes off interpretive possibility, presenting itself as rigidly determined; opposite of open form poetry.
Also Known As
Greek geometric verse Euclidean poetry Mathematical classical Geometric Greek
Skip to main content