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Prosody

Meter
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

The study and application of poetic meter, rhythm, stress, and intonation that shape a poem’s sonic and structural texture.

Explore this topic in depth (1)

How to Scan a Poem — Scansion is the practice of listening closely to a poem’s rhythm and marking its pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. It is not a way of forcing every line into a formula, but a method for hearing how regularity, variation and natural speech work together.

Detailed Definition
Prosody is the study of metrical structure in poetry, encompassing rhythm, stress, intonation, and versification; it includes analysis of feet, line length, caesurae, and stanzaic forms, providing the technical foundation for understanding how sound shapes meaning in poetic composition across languages and eras.
Example
Example in poetry:
Prosody: The study of meter, rhythm, and intonation in poetry; for example, iambic pentameter in Shakespeare: "Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?"
Additional Notes
Prosody: The study of meter, rhythm, and intonation in poetry; encompasses scansion, feet, and versification systems; foundational for analyzing formal poetry.
Also Known As
Versification Meter study Rhythm theory Sound patterns Meter Scansion Metre Chandas Mètre
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