Home › Glossary › Letter T

Truncated verse

Meter
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

Poetry characterized by metrically shortened lines across the work.

Detailed Definition
Truncated verse describes poetry that employs shortened lines, stanzas, or meters as a defining formal feature, using omission to generate tension, focus, or innovation; it challenges expectations of completeness, as in minimalist or postmodern work where absence speaks as loudly as presence, turning constraint into expressive necessity.
Example
Example in poetry:
A sonnet reduced to eight lines; Epic poem condensed to a single stanza; Haiku expanded then cut back to minimal form; Free verse deliberately shortened to haiku-like brevity for impact
Additional Notes
Truncated verse|A general term for any poetry characterized by lines that are consistently or deliberately shortened, either by metrical omission or by the poet's choice to end the line before the grammatical thought is complete (enjambment).
Also Known As
Abridged verse Curt verse Shortened poetry Beheaded verse Catalectic verse headless verse Clipped verse
Skip to main content