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Surplus iambic line

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

An iambic line with one or more extra syllables or feet beyond its metrical norm

Detailed Definition
An extra metrical line in a composition that already conforms to iambic rhythm, exceeding expected stanza or form length; surplus iambic lines can intensify emphasis or prolong narrative.
Example
Example in poetry:
A surplus iambic line appears in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116, where an extra unstressed syllable creates rhythmic variation: “Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration finds”; in Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” occasional 11-syllable lines disrupt pentameter for emphasis; Keats’s “Ode to a Nightingale” uses surplus iambs to mirror breathlessness: “My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains”; Contemporary poet Terrance Hayes adds an unstressed syllable in “American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin” to unsettle expected meter.
Additional Notes
Surplus iambic line contains extra syllables beyond standard count, often via feminine ending. Related to overlong pentameter. May create gentle extension—read aloud to ensure surplus flows naturally within the iambic pulse.
Also Known As
Extra iambic line Surplus iambs Overfilled stanza Added metrical line Hyperiambic hexameter
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