Accent in poetry refers to the stressed portion of a word. For example:
- "Let Us make man in Our image,
- according to Our likeness;
- let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
- over the birds of the air, and over the cattle,
- over all the earth and over every creeping thing
- that creeps on the earth"
- Genesis 26-27
Now depending on where you place the stress in this poem you will get a different meaning. For example, place the stress or accent on 'Our' and suddenly we have more than one God. Place it on 'them' then, there would appear to be a lot of men already there ready to receive planetary rights. Place it strategically on 'fish', 'birds', 'cattle' then you've got a really nice wrap up with accenting the last 'earth' for emphasis. Of course, where to accent in poetry can be of hot debate.
See also: lexical stress
