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short trochee

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 short trochee is a trochaic foot reduced to a single stressed syllable, used for metrical variation or abrupt emphasis in poetic rhythm.

Detailed Definition
A short trochee is a metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable (DUM-da), a reduced form of the classical trochee (which may have more syllables); it creates a falling rhythm used for abruptness or lyrical compression in modern verse.
Example
Example in poetry:
A short trochee appears in truncated trochaic lines like "Tiger! / Burning" where the final unstressed syllable is dropped; In Blake’s "The Tyger," some lines end with a catalectic trochee: "What dread hand?"; The phrase "Stop and" in trochaic tetrameter may omit the final unstressed beat; A short trochee occurs when a trochaic foot ends on a stressed syllable due to elision
Additional Notes
short trochee: A metrical foot (-u, stressed followed by unstressed) used in a line that is unusually brief; the omission of the final unstressed syllable often creates a strong, decisive, or abrupt feeling.
Also Known As
Short trochaic line clipped trochee brief trochee Catalectic trochee
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