Home › Glossary › Letter S

Shaped stanza

Form
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 deliberately arranged in a visual shape that corresponds to its thematic or descriptive subject matter.

Detailed Definition
Shaped stanza (or concrete poetry) arranges words on the page to visually represent the poem’s subject—such as George Herbert’s “Easter Wings” shaped like wings or Apollinaire’s rain-like “Il Pleut”; the visual form becomes inseparable from meaning, requiring readers to engage with both the eye and the ear to fully interpret the work.
Example
Example in poetry:
George Herbert’s "Easter Wings" shaped like wings; Apollinaire’s calligrammes forming objects; "The Altar" by Herbert shaped as an altar; Concrete poetry where words form a tree, heart, or spiral; A poem about rain printed in vertical drips down the page
Additional Notes
Shaped stanza (or concrete poetry) arranges words to visually represent the subject (e.g., wings, altar); pioneered by George Herbert and Apollinaire; students should analyze how shape enhances or complicates meaning; differs from "visual arrangement" by intentional iconicity; requires reading with eyes and ears.
Also Known As
concrete form visual poem patterned layout Shaped tercet Spatial three-line stanza Visual stanza
Skip to main content