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Sonic attraction

Sound
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

The use of sound patterns to draw attention to particular words or ideas

Detailed Definition
Sonic attraction in poetry refers to the magnetic pull created by harmonious sound patterns—assonance, consonance, euphony—that draw words or lines together aurally; this subtle acoustic cohesion enhances musicality and emotional texture, guiding the reader’s ear through the poem’s landscape even when semantic links are tenuous.
Example
Example in poetry:
Assonance in Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale”: “fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget”; Alliteration in “The Raven”: “silken, sad, uncertain rustling”; Consonance in Emily Dickinson: “After great pain, a formal feeling comes”; Modern example: Danez Smith’s internal rhyme and slant sounds in “not an elegy for Mike Brown”
Additional Notes
Sonic attraction describes how sounds (alliteration, assonance, consonance) create cohesion and emotional texture independent of meaning.
Also Known As
Phonemic allure Sonic magnetism Acoustic pull Auditory charm Drawing power Magnetic correspondence Magnetic pull
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