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Three-line unit

Form
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 poetic unit of exactly three lines, functioning as a tercet in forms like terza rima, haiku, or free-verse stanzas.

Detailed Definition
A three-line unit (tercet) is a stanza of three lines that functions as a cohesive structural and thematic block; it may be rhymed (AAA), unrhymed, or part of interlocking schemes like terza rima (ABA BCB), and is central to forms ranging from haiku to Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” offering balance between brevity and development.
Example
Example in poetry:
A haiku (5-7-5) as a self-contained three-line unit; A tercet from a terza rima sequence; A triplet rhyme: "The sky was blue / the sea was wide / and I was you"; A three-line stanza presenting setup, turn, and punch; A micropoem: "Born still. / Mother’s empty arms. / Winter."
Additional Notes
A three-line unit (tercet) functions as a cohesive stanza; can be rhymed, unrhymed, or part of terza rima; students should analyze its self-containment and role in larger structure; differs from "extended tercet" by standard length; key in haiku and modern free verse.
Also Known As
tercet triplet stanza triadic verse block Three-line stanza Verse triad
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