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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 14‑line lyric poem in a recognized pattern of meter and rhyme.
Explore this topic in depth (3)
Sonnet
— The sonnet is one of poetry's most enduring forms: compact enough to concentrate thought, yet flexible enough for love, politics, faith, nature and grief. This guide explores its history, structures and variations, with particular attention to the volta—the turn that gives many sonnets their dramatic movement.
Romanticism
— Romanticism was not simply a love of nature or strong feeling. It was a varied poetic response to revolution, industrial change, scientific thought and new questions about the individual mind, freedom and humanity’s place in the world.
Volta
— A volta is a turn: the moment when a poem changes direction in its thinking, feeling, argument, perspective, tone or imagery. Though closely associated with the sonnet, the volta can occur in almost any poem and at almost any point.
Detailed Definition
A sonnet is a 14-line lyric poem traditionally written in iambic pentameter, with major variants including Petrarchan (octave-sestet) and Shakespearean (three quatrains + couplet); it explores a single theme with concentrated intensity, using volta (turn) to shift perspective or resolve tension.
Example
Example in poetry:
Sonnet: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18: "Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate..." — 14 lines, iambic pentameter, ABABCDCDEFEFGG rhyme.
Additional Notes
Sonnet: A 14-line lyric poem with formal structure and thematic development; major types include Petrarchan, Shakespearean, and Spenserian; traditionally explores love, time, beauty, or mortality.