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Stress-timed verse

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

Poetry where rhythm depends on stressed syllables occurring at regular intervals

Detailed Definition
Stress-timed verse: Poetry following the rhythm of stress-timed languages where stressed syllables occur at roughly regular intervals regardless of the number of unstressed syllables between them, mirroring natural English speech patterns.
Example
Example in poetry:
Verse where stressed syllables occur at regular intervals; rhythm based on beat timing rather than syllable counting; stress-timed rhythmic poetry; accent-interval verse
Additional Notes
Rhythmic system where stressed syllables occur at regular time intervals; natural to English speech; differs from syllable-timed languages; explains why English poetry based on stress; important for understanding English meter
Also Known As
Accentual poetry Beat-based meter Rhythm-centered form Beat-based poetry Dolnik verse
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