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readymade verse

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

An alternative term for poetry composed by reusing or reframing existing text

Detailed Definition
Readymade verse refers to poetry that incorporates pre-existing texts, found language, or everyday discourse—such as advertisements, legal documents, or overheard speech—into its composition with minimal alteration, challenging notions of originality and authorship; inspired by Duchamp’s “readymades,” this approach, used by poets like Kenneth Goldsmith or Vanessa Place, foregrounds context and framing as poetic acts in themselves.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Dada poetry, readymade verse uses found text like newspaper clippings as poetic material; Contemporary poet Kenneth Goldsmith transcribes weather reports as readymade verse; In “The Waste Land,” Eliot’s pub dialogue is readymade verse from real speech; Student exercise: turning a grocery list into readymade verse with line breaks; Readymade verse in conceptual poetry: court transcripts arranged as lyric.
Additional Notes
Readymade verse repurposes found text (ads, signs, transcripts) as poetry. Related to assemblage verse and procedural constraint. Select fragments with inherent rhythm or irony—editing, not authorship, is the creative act.
Also Known As
Reframed verse Pre-existing poetry Repurposed verse Readymade composition Found text
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