Home › Glossary › Letter A

Anselm

Historical Figure
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 Benedictine monk, philosopher, and Archbishop of Canterbury, famed for his ontological argument; in poetry, he represents intellectual faith, medieval scholasticism, and the pursuit of divine truth through reason.

Detailed Definition
Saint Anselm (1033–1109) was an influential scholastic thinker, known for his ontological argument for God’s existence. In poetry, he represents faith seeking understanding and the intellectual struggle between reason and belief, embodying the medieval fusion of logic and devotion.
Example
Example in poetry:
Anselm: Anselm’s ontological argument for God’s existence becomes poetic metaphor: “The thought of God must be God’s face—/ for what is greater, can’t be less.”; Poets use his logic to frame doubt as sacred pursuit: “I sought Him not in church or flame, / but in the mind that dared to name.”; His “Proslogion” inspires meditative verse: “If I conceive the Perfect One, / then He must be—though none have seen.”; A poet might write, “Anselm said God cannot be denied—/ even the atheist’s ‘no’ implies His side.”; His rational faith resonates in modern spiritual verse: “Not by miracle, nor voice, nor sign, / but by the mind that asks, ‘Why?’—I find.”; Poets learning Anselm’s method use deductive structure to build devotional intensity: “If perfection must include existence, / then absence is the lie, not faith.”
Additional Notes
Saint Anselm’s ontological argument for God’s existence, though philosophical, resonates in devotional poetry through its logical intensity and conceptual daring; poets like Hopkins or Donne, grappling with faith and doubt, echo his method of reasoning toward the ineffable, making Anselm a subtle intellectual touchstone in religious verse seeking rational depth.
Also Known As
Anselm of Canterbury
Skip to main content