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Stressed ending

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

A line or word ending where the final syllable carries metrical stress

Detailed Definition
A stressed ending refers to a line of verse that concludes with a syllable bearing metrical stress, creating a sense of rhythmic finality and emphasis; common in masculine rhyme and iambic or trochaic meters, it is a hallmark of heroic couplets and Shakespearean sonnets, where the strong closure enhances both musicality and rhetorical impact, as in the line “To be, or not to be: that is the question.”
Example
Example in poetry:
Shakespeare’s sonnet line “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” ends with the stressed syllable “day”; In Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” the line “And miles to go before I sleep” ends on the stressed word “sleep”; The iambic pentameter line “To be, or not to be: that is the question” concludes with the stressed syllable “tion” (in “question”); Alexander Pope’s heroic couplet “To err is human; to forgive, divine” ends with the stressed word “divine”
Additional Notes
A stressed ending occurs when the final syllable of a line carries metrical stress, common in masculine rhyme and iambic/trochaic meters; contributes to rhythmic closure and is typical in heroic couplets and sonnets
Also Known As
Masculine ending terminal stress accented close strong line ending
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