Home › Glossary › Letter R

Ravine

Landscape
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

Ravine: A deep, narrow gorge or cleft in the earth's surface, typically carved by running water, a landscape feature that often signifies wild, untamed nature and a boundary between spaces.

Detailed Definition
A ravine brings sudden depth and concealment to a poem's terrain. Its steep banks, tangled vegetation, and hidden stream may divide a path or shelter creatures from the open land above. Poets often use ravines to create suspense, separation, or descent, since crossing one requires attention and entering one changes the light, sound, and apparent scale of the world.
Example
Example in poetry:
“The ravine swallowed the road and gave back only echoes,” using the steep valley to create danger and enclosure; A poet can place a stream in a ravine, where its hidden movement mirrors suppressed grief; “Across the ravine, your voice arrived broken by stone,” making the landscape shape communication; Let a speaker descend into a ravine to suggest entering memory, fear, or the unconscious
Additional Notes
A ravine is a deep, narrow land cut by water, often associated with shadow and danger. Its steep sides can dramatize separation, concealment, descent, or a difficult passage through a landscape.
Also Known As
Gully Gorge Canyon Clough
Skip to main content