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song-cento

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 cento composed entirely from fragments of existing song lyrics, reassembled to create a new poetic work that echoes or recontextualizes the original musical sources.

Detailed Definition
A song-cento is a poetic collage composed entirely of lines or phrases borrowed from existing songs, reassembled to create a new lyrical work; this intertextual form celebrates musical heritage while generating fresh meaning through juxtaposition, often revealing hidden connections between disparate lyrical traditions.
Example
Example in poetry:
A cento made of song lyrics: Combining lines from Beatles, Dylan, and Joni Mitchell; A poem stitched from folk song refrains; Modern example: "Yesterday... / Blowin’ in the wind... / Both sides now..."; Ancient precedent: Ausonius’s centos from Virgil adapted to lyrical themes
Additional Notes
A song-cento is a poem created by piecing together lines or fragments taken entirely from other, pre-existing songs or poems; a form of cento that specifically uses musical sources, often for parody or commentary.
Also Known As
Song collage song cento lyric mosaic Centosonic
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