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psychic distance

Concept
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 emotional or psychological distance between narrator and subject, ranging from intimate immersion to detached observation.

Detailed Definition
Psychic distance in poetry denotes the perceived emotional or psychological gap between the speaker/narrator and the subject matter, controlled through diction, tense, perspective, and imagery; poets modulate psychic distance to create intimacy, detachment, irony, or objectivity, shaping how readers engage with the poem’s emotional core.
Example
Example in poetry:
In a dramatic monologue, the speaker's deep, private thoughts are revealed directly to the reader, creating low psychic distance; A third-person narrator who only reports external actions and dialogue, maintaining a high psychic distance; A poem written in first person, detailing immediate sensations and feelings, making the reader feel very close to the experience; A historical epic written with an omniscient, detached narrator who comments from a distant perspective
Additional Notes
psychic distance: The emotional or intellectual space between the narrator/speaker and the events or characters described in the poem; a wide distance suggests objectivity, while a narrow distance suggests intense subjectivity.
Also Known As
Psychological distance psychic gap internal perspective Aesthetic distance
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