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Short-long-short

Meter
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 metrical foot composed of a short, long, then short syllable pattern.

Detailed Definition
Short-long-short refers to a metrical foot composed of an unstressed syllable, followed by a stressed syllable, and ending with another unstressed syllable—essentially an amphibrach; commonly found in light verse, nursery rhymes, and lyrical poetry, it creates a gentle, rocking rhythm that enhances musicality and memorability.
Example
Example in poetry:
The anapestic foot: "to the shore" (short-short-long) is often confused, but true short-long-short appears in amphibrachic meters like "aBOVE the"; "The curfew tolls" (if scanned as short-LONG-short) approximates it; In Greek, ἀ-γά-πη (a-gá-pē) can be short-long-short; English examples are rare, but "reMEMber" in certain contexts fits
Additional Notes
Short-long-short: A metrical foot pattern (unstressed, stressed, unstressed) which is a variation of the amphibrach foot (u−u); creates a feeling of movement and then falling away.
Also Known As
Choriambic short-long-short clipped pattern brief choriamb Amphibrach
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