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Positional transition

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

Movement between different spatial, temporal, or conceptual positions in verse

Detailed Definition
Positional transition: Movement between different spatial, temporal, or conceptual positions within the poem, creating shifts that reorient the reader's relationship to content. Positional transitions may be literal (changing location or time) or figurative (moving between abstract stances), but they consistently alter the frame through which material is perceived.
Example
Example in poetry:
In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” the shift from “Let us go then, you and I” to internal monologue marks a referential shift from dialogue to soliloquy; In “Citizen,” Rankine shifts from “you” to “I” to implicate reader then claim personal pain; In sonnet sequences, Shakespeare shifts referents from fair youth to dark lady, altering emotional valence; In “Howl,” Ginsberg shifts from “I saw” to “Moloch!” invoking externalized evil; Referential shift in haiku moves from nature observation to human insight (“old pond” → “sound of water”).
Additional Notes
A shift in spatial or temporal position within a poem, often marked by changes in deictic language. Important for tracking movement through poetic space.
Also Known As
Spatial shift Temporal transition Locational movement Positional change Deictic shift
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