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temporal shift

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 movement in a poem’s timeframe from one temporal setting to another

Detailed Definition
A temporal shift is a sudden change in time frame within a poem—moving from present to past, future to memory, or childhood to adulthood—that reorients perspective and deepens thematic resonance; often signaled by tense change or contextual cue, it allows poets to juxtapose experiences, reveal hidden connections, or dramatize psychological transformation, as in Seamus Heaney’s shifts between farm life and adult reflection.
Example
Example in poetry:
A temporal shift moves between time frames: “I was a child— / Now my own child sleeps.”; “Last spring we laughed; / This winter, silence.”; “Tomorrow I’ll leave— / Yesterday I arrived.”; In “Fern Hill,” Dylan Thomas shifts between past joy and present loss.
Additional Notes
temporal shift|A change in the poem's chronology, moving from one point in time to another (e.g., past to present, or a jump forward); marked by tense changes or time-related diction.
Also Known As
Time shift Chronological shift Temporal transition Aspectual shift
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