Home › Glossary › Letter T

Two-voice spiral

Form
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 sestina form alternating lines or stanzas between two distinct voices, creating a dialogic spiral through its intricate repetition pattern.

Detailed Definition
A two-voice spiral structures exchange where speakers' alternating contributions gradually intensify, complicate, or evolve toward crisis or resolution. This form uses dialogue to create progressive development, with interaction itself driving dramatic movement.
Example
Example in poetry:
Two-voice spiral appears in Derek Walcott’s “The Schooner Flight,” where Shabine’s monologue dialogues with Caribbean history; in Louise Glück’s “Meadowlands,” Odysseus and Penelope’s voices intertwine modern and mythic; in Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen,” italicized second-person and narrator create spiraling racial consciousness; in Ocean Vuong’s “Aubade with Burning City,” personal and historical voices coil around Saigon’s fall; contemporary poet Solmaz Sharif’s “Look” alternates military dictionary and intimate address in ethical spiral.
Additional Notes
A poem in spiral or recursive structure featuring two alternating voices that circle around central themes.
Also Known As
Dialogue sestina Conversational spiral Two-speaker six-stanza Exchange sestina Dialogic sestina
Skip to main content