Home › Glossary › Letter O

Outward-moving couplet

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 couplet whose structure suggests extension or radiating movement outward

Detailed Definition
An outward-moving couplet is a two-line unit whose syntax, imagery, or thought progresses from intimacy or specificity toward broader implication, spatial extension, or universal resonance, enacting thematic or emotional opening within a compact form.
Example
Example in poetry:
A rhyming pair of lines (couplet) where the first line poses a question or introduces a narrow idea, and the second line broadens the scope significantly; A couplet where the image begins in the first line and then expands to a wider context or philosophical implication in the second; A pair of lines where the first line ends on a restrictive noun and the second line describes its universal significance; The lines "I thought the road was lost. / But it stretched out to all the coast."
Additional Notes
Outward-moving couplet: A pair of lines (couplet) that directs the thought, action, or theme of the poem toward a point outside the current stanza or preceding thought; often serves as a transition or a concluding generalization.
Also Known As
centrifugal couplet outward-facing couplet external couplet
Skip to main content