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Tautological Verse

Adjective
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

Verse that uses redundancy by repeating the same idea in different words.

Detailed Definition
Tautological verse is poetry that deliberately repeats ideas or phrases in synonymous or near-identical terms, often for rhetorical emphasis, meditative effect, or ironic critique; while tautology is typically avoided in prose, in poetry it can underscore obsession, ritual, or the limits of language, as in certain minimalist or liturgical traditions.
Example
Example in poetry:
Tautological verse in Gertrude Stein: “A rose is a rose is a rose”; In Shakespeare: “The Moor is of a free and open nature— / …of a free and open nature”; Tautological verse in contemporary conceptual poetry: “This poem is this poem”; Used for emphasis, irony, or meditative focus
Additional Notes
Verse using deliberate redundancy for effect. Rhetorical technique. Related to pleonasm. Study tip: Repeated meaning in different words; notice when redundancy serves emphasis versus padding.
Also Known As
Redundant verse Repetitive poetry Tautological poem Same-meaning verse
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