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Reverie

Psychology
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

Reverie in poetry denotes a dreamlike state of gentle musing or fantasy, often rendered through flowing syntax, soft imagery, and unhurried rhythm.

Detailed Definition
Reverie offers escape or insight. Poetry uses it to blur thought and sensation, employing fluid syntax and sensory detail to explore the liminal space between waking and dreaming, memory and desire.
Example
Example in poetry:
In John Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale,” reverie offers escape from mortality; In Sylvia Plath’s “Ariel,” reverie fuses rider and horse in transcendent flight; In Emily Dickinson’s “I dwell in Possibility,” reverie builds a house of poetry; In W.B. Yeats’ “The Lake Isle of Innisfree,” reverie idealizes rural solitude; In Ocean Vuong’s “Notebook Fragments,” reverie reconstructs memory and desire; In Wallace Stevens’ “The Idea of Order at Key West,” reverie blends imagination and reality.
Additional Notes
Reverie—daydreaming or musing—is a key mode of lyric poetry (Keats, Vuong); differs from fantasy by its contemplative quality; poetic techniques include fluid syntax, sensory detail, or temporal suspension; students should analyze whether reverie escapes or clarifies reality; note its link to creativity—reverie as incubation.
Also Known As
Daydreaming Trance Contemplation Woolgathering dwam
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