Home › Glossary › Letter A

Angelic orders imagery

Imagery
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

Poetic references to the hierarchies of angels from Christian theology

Detailed Definition
Angelic orders imagery invokes the hierarchical taxonomy of angels (e.g., Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones) from Christian mysticism to structure poetic cosmology or symbolize spiritual ascent; such imagery conveys transcendence, divine mediation, or metaphysical order, as in Dante’s Paradiso or Rilke’s Duino Elegies.
Example
Example in poetry:
Angelic orders imagery draws on hierarchies like seraphim or cherubim, as in Rilke’s “Duino Elegies”: “Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angelic / orders?”
Additional Notes
Angelic orders imagery: Draws on hierarchies of angels (e.g., seraphim, cherubim) from Pseudo-Dionysius; used to explore divine order, mediation, or cosmic harmony; frequent in Renaissance and mystical poetry.
Also Known As
Celestial hierarchy Angelic ranking imagery Heavenly order Seraphic gradation
Skip to main content