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textual insertion

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

The inclusion of external or additional text into a poetic composition

Detailed Definition
Textual insertion is the deliberate incorporation of external material—quotations, documents, found text—into a poem, disrupting lyrical flow to introduce heteroglossia, historical context, or critical commentary; this technique blurs boundaries between original and borrowed language, positioning the poet as editor or curator as much as creator.
Example
Example in poetry:
In “The Waste Land,” T.S. Eliot inserts “Shantih shantih shantih”; in “Paradise Lost,” Milton inserts a prayer before Book VII; in “Song of Myself,” Whitman inserts catalogues; in “Howl,” Ginsberg inserts “Moloch!”
Additional Notes
Textual insertion adds external material (quotes, signs, documents) into a poem; students should consider how the insertion challenges authorship, authenticity, or voice.
Also Known As
Inserted quotation Embedded citation Textual graft Verbatim inclusion Interpolation
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