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serpentine tercet

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

A three-line stanza whose syntax or rhyme weaves in a serpentine fashion, creating fluid, non-linear progression.

Detailed Definition
A serpentine tercet is a three-line stanza with an interlocking rhyme scheme (e.g., ABA BCB CDC) that “weaves” through a poem, linking each unit to the next like a chain; derived from Dante’s terza rima, it sustains narrative flow while providing subtle structural unity through deferred rhyme resolution.
Example
Example in poetry:
A tercet with rhyme scheme ABA, then BCB, then CDC—each tercet shares a rhyme with the next, forming a serpentine tercet; Dante’s terza rima (ABA BCB CDC) is the classic serpentine tercet; Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” uses terza rima’s serpentine tercet structure; Modern poets like Seamus Heaney adapt serpentine tercets in “Station Island”
Additional Notes
serpentine tercet: A three-line stanza (tercet) where the rhyme scheme is intricate or interwoven, often aba, where the unrhymed line's end-word will set the rhyme for the next stanza, creating a chain; e.g., terza rima.
Also Known As
winding three-line coiled triplet Boustrophedonic tercet
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