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Temporal figure

Device
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 rhetorical figure that integrates temporal markers—such as “when,” “before,” or “after”—to structure meaning through time.

Detailed Definition
A temporal figure is any metaphor, simile, or trope that emphasizes time, change, or historical dimension. These devices ground abstract ideas in temporal processes, using figurative language to explore how things develop, evolve, or relate across duration.
Example
Example in poetry:
In “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” Keats uses temporal figures: “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard / Are sweeter”—contrasting present and eternal time; Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 uses “eternal summer” as a temporal figure against decay; In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons” compresses time into ritual; Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death” personifies time as a carriage ride; Contemporary poet Tracy K. Smith uses temporal figures in “The United States Welcomes You”: “It was like this for a while. Then it wasn’t.”
Additional Notes
A figure of speech involving temporal comparisons, changes over time, or historical perspective. Time metaphor. Study Proust. Enhances temporal depth. Effective for memory themes.
Also Known As
Time-based figure Historical trope Temporal device Diachronic figure Diachronic metaphor Evolutionary trope
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