Home › Glossary › Letter T

Total enumeration

Device
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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 comprehensive listing of items, qualities, or ideas within a poem

Detailed Definition
Total enumeration is a poetic catalog that strives for exhaustive, comprehensive listing—of people, places, qualities, or experiences—to evoke totality, democracy, or cosmic order; Homer’s “Catalog of Ships” and Whitman’s “Song of Myself” use this technique to create immersive, all-encompassing poetic worlds.
Example
Example in poetry:
Whitman’s “Song of Myself” catalogs American life comprehensively; Homer’s “Catalog of Ships” in the “Iliad” lists all Greek contingents; Spenser’s “The Faerie Queene” enumerates virtues and vices; Ashbery’s “The Instruction Manual” totals imagined Guatemalan scenes
Additional Notes
Total enumeration lists all relevant items exhaustively—creates inclusivity or overwhelming effect; differs from selective catalog by its ambition to be comprehensive, as in epic or Whitmanesque verse.
Also Known As
Comprehensive listing exhaustive catalog full enumeration complete poetic inventory Complete catalog exhaustive roster Total inventory
Skip to main content