Accent: (1) A recognizable manner of pronouncing words--often associated with a class, caste, ethnic group, or geographic region. Thus, Americans might be able to discern a Boston accent or a Texas accent by sound alone, or they might place a foreign speaker's origin by noting a French or Russian accent. (2) The amount of stress given to a syllable--an important component of meter. (3) Any diacritical mark.

 

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Accent: A detail, brushstroke, or area of color placed in a painting for emphasis.

Wrenched Accent: As Babette Deutsch phrases it, wrenched accent is 'The triumph of metrical stress over word accent when the two conflict' (195). Normally, a word like body typically has a strong stress on t . . . View Full Definition

Accentual Verse: Lines whose rhythm arises from its stressed syllables rather than from the number of its syllables, or from the length of time devoted to their sounding. Old english poems such as beowulf an . . . View Full Definition

Accentual-Syllabic Verse: Lines whose rhythm arises by the number and alternation of its stressed and unstressed syllables, organized into feet. Most english poems from the renaissance to the late eighteenth century . . . View Full Definition