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Self-evident opening

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

An opening line or stanza presenting itself as self-proving or axiomatic

Detailed Definition
A self-evident opening is a poem’s initial line or phrase that presents its subject, tone, or situation with immediate clarity, establishing context without obscurity; such openings efficiently orient the reader, as in Blake’s “Tyger! Tyger! burning bright,” which instantly introduces its central image and awe-struck tone.
Example
Example in poetry:
Robert Frost’s “Whose woods these are I think I know” is a self-evident opening establishing speaker and setting; “I wandered lonely as a cloud” by Wordsworth immediately grounds the reader in perspective; Shakespeare’s Sonnet 1 opens self-evidently: “From fairest creatures we desire increase”; Emily Dickinson’s “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –” uses a self-evident opening to frame mortality
Additional Notes
Self-evident opening: A line or lines at the start of a poem that present an undeniable truth or commonly accepted fact to immediately engage the reader and set a clear, authoritative tone.
Also Known As
Self-evident opening line axiomatic beginning manifest start Axiomatic opening
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