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Surplus pentameter

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

A pentameter line containing more syllables or stresses than standard measure allows

Detailed Definition
Surplus pentameter describes a metrical line that exceeds the standard five feet of iambic pentameter by adding one or more extra syllables or feet, often for expressive emphasis, rhythmic variation, or dramatic effect; unlike hypermetrical lines that merely append an unstressed syllable, surplus pentameter may incorporate an entire additional foot or disrupt the expected pattern to convey urgency, overflow, or psychological tension—as seen in the expansive, breathless lines of Walt Whitman or in Shakespeare’s occasional use of hexameter within blank verse to signal heightened emotion or thematic climax.
Example
Example in poetry:
Surplus pentameter appears in T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” where lines like “I will show you fear in a handful of dust” stretch beyond ten syllables for dramatic effect; in Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey,” the line “With many recognitions dim and sweet” subtly exceeds pentameter; Gwendolyn Brooks’s “The Mother” uses an 11-syllable line—“You were born, you had body, you died”—to heighten emotional weight; Shakespeare occasionally inserts 11-syllable lines in blank verse to signal psychological tension or rhetorical emphasis.
Additional Notes
Surplus pentameter exceeds ten syllables while retaining iambic rhythm. Contrast with deficient pentameter. Common in dramatic verse—scan to see if extra syllables serve emotional emphasis or rhythmic variation.
Also Known As
Extended pentameter line Surplus verse Overlength stanza Added five-foot measure Hyperiambic pentameter
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