Home › Glossary › Letter A

Ascension

Historical Festival
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

Christian feast celebrating Christ’s bodily ascent into heaven forty days after Easter, emphasizing divine glory and hope

Detailed Definition
Ascension Day commemorates Jesus Christ’s return to heaven, as described in Acts 1:9–11, occurring forty days after Easter. It underscores themes of divine transcendence, promise, and the anticipation of the Holy Spirit. In Christian poetry—from medieval hymns to metaphysical verse—it symbolizes spiritual elevation, the soul’s yearning for union with God, and the paradox of absence and presence. Poets like John Donne and George Herbert use the Ascension to explore faith, longing, and the mystery of divine withdrawal.
Example
Example in poetry:
John Donne’s “Ascension” sonnet contemplates Christ’s bodily ascent as a model for spiritual elevation; George Herbert’s “Ascension” uses the feast to explore human longing for divine union; Modern poets reference Ascension to contrast earthly limits with transcendent hope; In mystical verse, Ascension becomes a metaphor for poetic inspiration rising beyond the mundane; Poets use Ascension’s forty-day timing to reflect on periods of waiting and transformation; Ascension appears in post-war poetry as a symbol of reconciliation and upward movement.
Additional Notes
Ascension (Feast of the Ascension, 40 days after Easter) commemorates Christ’s bodily ascent to heaven; in Christian liturgical poetry, it symbolizes transcendence, divine return, and hope; poets like John Donne and George Herbert use Ascension imagery to explore spiritual elevation, absence, and the tension between earthly and heavenly realms—ideal for metaphysical or devotional verse.
Other Meanings of “Ascension”
Also Known As
Feast of the Ascension Ascension Day Holy Thursday Ascent
Skip to main content