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Thin line

Structure
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 verse line visually or metrically narrow—often with few syllables or light stress—creating delicacy, pause, or spatial emphasis.

Detailed Definition
A thin line in poetry denotes a verse line that is visually short, syntactically sparse, or rhythmically delicate, often used to convey fragility, hesitation, or minimalism; its brevity may contrast with surrounding lines to create tension or highlight vulnerability, as in the sparse lines of haiku or the fragile utterances in Louise Glück’s confessional verse where silence surrounds each phrase.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Between silence and speech, a thin line trembles” — metaphorically represents fragility of expression; “She walked the thin line of dawn, neither night nor day” — evokes liminal space; “Truth and fiction blur along a thin line drawn in sand” — illustrates ambiguity; “On the thin line of a razor’s edge, hope balanced” — conveys precariousness
Additional Notes
Thin line|A line of verse, often in free verse, that is significantly shorter than the others, creating a sharp visual break and drawing attention to its concentrated content; related to diminished line.
Also Known As
Thin verse Slender line Narrow measure Capillary line
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