Home › Glossary › Letter U

Unwieldy composition

Concept
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 poem difficult to manage or handle due to excessive complexity or poor construction

Detailed Definition
Unwieldy composition describes poetry that feels structurally cumbersome, syntactically tangled, or metrically overloaded, either unintentionally or as deliberate aesthetic choice; it may convey chaos, excess, or the limits of language, challenging readers with its resistance to easy interpretation.
Example
Example in poetry:
Unwieldy composition: a poem so long or complex it resists containment—Pound’s “Cantos”; A poem with footnotes, appendices, and marginalia; Contemporary examples use multi-genre collage; Unwieldiness may reflect ambition, chaos, or excess; It’s a deliberate aesthetic of overflow.
Additional Notes
Unwieldy composition is heavy, awkward, or cumbersome in style; can be intentional for effect or unintentional flaw.
Also Known As
Clumsy composition Awkward verse Ungainly poetry Difficult lines Cumbrous Verse
Skip to main content