Home › Glossary › Letter W

waning rhythm

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

A metrical pattern that diminishes in intensity or stress toward the line’s end

Detailed Definition
Waning rhythm describes a metrical pattern that diminishes in intensity, beat, or syllable count toward a line’s or stanza’s end, evoking decline, exhaustion, or fading light; it is often employed in elegies or twilight meditations to mirror thematic dissolution through form.
Example
Example in poetry:
Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” uses waning rhythm to mirror receding “Sea of Faith”; T.S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men” descends in waning rhythm to “whimper”; Wilfred Owen’s “Futility” wanes from command to despair; Sylvia Plath’s “Edge” closes with chilling waning rhythm: “Her bare feet seem to be saying: / We have come so far, it is over.”
Additional Notes
Waning rhythm describes a metrical pattern that diminishes in energy or stress toward a line’s end; evokes decline, fatigue, or resignation—contrasts with swelling rhyme.
Also Known As
Fading cadence receding beat diminishing meter ebbing rhythm Declining meter descending cadence fading meter
Skip to main content