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Section break

Structure
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

A deliberate typographic or white-space break that separates major sections of a poem, signaling shifts in time, voice, or theme.

Detailed Definition
A section break is a typographical or spatial division—often indicated by asterisks, extra line spaces, or blank lines—that separates parts of a poem to signal shifts in time, perspective, tone, or subject; it provides structural clarity without formal stanzaic boundaries, enabling fluid transitions in long or fragmented poems.
Example
Example in poetry:
In "The Waste Land," T.S. Eliot uses asterisks and white space to mark section breaks between “The Burial of the Dead” and “A Game of Chess”; In Mary Oliver’s “Wild Geese,” a stanza break functions as a section break shifting from address to imagery; Section breaks in H.D.’s "Trilogy" separate thematic movements with blank lines; In "Citizen," Rankine uses full-page breaks to shift between lyric and visual media
Additional Notes
Section break: A visual or conceptual pause in a poem, often indicated by extra space or an asterisk, that signals a significant shift in thought, time, speaker, or location; distinct from a simple stanza break; helps manage pace and transition.
Also Known As
Division break section ending segment break Asterism break
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