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Opening flourish

Device
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

An introductory literary gesture in poetry to capture attention or set tone

Detailed Definition
Opening flourish is a rhetorical or sonic burst at a poem’s beginning—through alliteration, exclamatory diction, or dramatic imagery—designed to seize attention and establish tone; like a fanfare, it announces the poem’s arrival with confidence, as in “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” or “Beware the Jabberwock, my son!”, using initial energy to propel the reader into the poem’s world.
Example
Example in poetry:
Opening flourish: Shakespeare’s “Richard III” begins with “Now is the winter of our discontent” — a dramatic, rhetorical fanfare; Milton’s “Paradise Lost” opens with “Of Man’s first disobedience…” invoking muse with grandeur; Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” starts with “I celebrate myself…” in bold self-assertion; contemporary poet Danez Smith opens “summer, somewhere” with “the boys are jumping rope with a stolen extension cord” — vivid and immediate; opening flourishes grab attention through sonic, thematic, or imagistic intensity.
Additional Notes
Opening flourish uses striking imagery, sound, or diction to grab attention at a poem’s start. Contrast with understated openings. Analyze first lines of famous poems—note how they establish tone, voice, or central conflict immediately.
Also Known As
Grand introduction Attention setter Fronsio
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