Home › Glossary › Letter R

Reflexive stanza

Device
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

A stanza that explicitly reflects on its own creation, purpose, or the act of writing, functioning as poetic self-awareness or meta-commentary.

Detailed Definition
Reflexive stanza is a poetic unit that explicitly comments on its own construction, language, or act of writing, turning the poem into a mirror of its own process; it foregrounds self-awareness, often using meta-poetic diction to explore the limits and possibilities of expression.
Example
Example in poetry:
Reflexive stanza comments on its own making: “This tercet doubts its right to exist.”; “I am a stanza built of second thoughts / and crossed-out words.”; Postmodern: “These three lines watch themselves being read.”
Additional Notes
Stanza that comments on or refers to itself. Self-conscious about its own construction. Related to metapoetry. Study how form becomes content.
Also Known As
Self-referential stanza Reflexive form Self-aware verse unit Meta-poetic stanza
Skip to main content