Home › Glossary › Letter S

Short monometer

Meter
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

Short monometer is a one-foot line deliberately truncated for dramatic effect, emphasis, or rhythmic contrast within a longer metrical context.

Detailed Definition
Short monometer is a metrical line containing just one foot, creating extreme brevity and rhythmic starkness; rarely used alone, it appears for dramatic emphasis or experimental effect, as in catalectic lines or minimalist modernist fragments that challenge conventional prosody.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Fame is” – a short monometer line; “Go.” – imperative short monometer; “Wait!” – exclamatory short monometer; “Hark.” – observational short monometer in poetic minimalism
Additional Notes
Short monometer: A line of verse that contains only a single metrical foot; extremely short and used for emphatic effect or to create a highly segmented rhythm.
Also Known As
clipped single-foot line brief one-beat verse Adonic monometer
Skip to main content