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ox-turning line break

Form
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 line break that mimics reversal or turning movement as in boustrophedon

Detailed Definition
An ox-turning line break is a poetic enjambment that mimics the slow, laborious turn of an ox-drawn plow at the end of a furrow—pausing, shifting direction, and continuing—creating a deliberate, weighted break that emphasizes both closure and forward motion; this technique, rooted in agrarian metaphor, often signals thematic pivot or emotional recalibration within the poem’s rhythm.
Example
Example in poetry:
A line break that forces a sudden, dramatic shift in meaning or tone, often by changing the grammatical function of the word at the end of the line; A line break that makes the reader pause and then immediately reread the beginning of the next line because the sense is so abruptly altered; A break used to create a momentary ambiguity or double meaning that is resolved only by reading the next line; The phrase "The key was always lost / and then found in the pocket."
Additional Notes
ox-turning line break: A type of line break that mimics the boustrophedon style of writing (literally "ox-turning"), where lines alternate in direction (left-to-right, then right-to-left); suggests a deliberate, often visual or cyclical, movement in the poem.
Also Known As
boustrophedon break ox-turn break plough-line turn Boustrophedonic enjambment
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