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Terminal Pause

Sound
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 rhythmic or rhetorical pause that occurs at the end of a line, often marked by punctuation

Detailed Definition
Terminal Pause is a deliberate caesura or silence placed at the end of a poetic line or stanza, often marked by punctuation or line break, that shapes the reader’s temporal and emotional experience by creating suspense, emphasis, or reflective space; unlike enjambment, which propels the reader forward, the terminal pause invites contemplation, allowing the final word or phrase to resonate, as in the stark closures of Emily Dickinson’s dashes or the meditative stops in haiku that separate image from insight.
Example
Example in poetry:
Terminal Pause appears in Emily Dickinson’s dashes: “I heard a Fly buzz – when I died –”; in Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods,” the final “And miles to go before I sleep” lingers with caesura; in Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy,” the last line “Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through” halts with finality; in Langston Hughes’s “Harlem,” the question “Or does it explode?” hangs in silence; in Gwendolyn Brooks’s “We Real Cool,” the terminal “Die soon” drops like a stone.
Additional Notes
Pause at line end. Basic metrical concept. Opposite of enjambment. Study tip: Sense unit completes at line break; creates stable, end-stopped feel versus flowing enjambment.
Also Known As
Final pause End stop Line-ending break Terminal rest Terminal cadence
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