Home › Glossary › Letter B

Bacchanalian verse

Genre
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

Verse celebrating wine, ecstatic dance, and sensual abandon, rooted in the worship of Dionysus and marked by emotional intensity.

Detailed Definition
Bacchanalian verse celebrates ecstatic, often drunken revelry inspired by Dionysian rites, using frenetic rhythms, lush imagery, and transgressive joy; it rejects Apollonian order for chaotic vitality, as in the odes of Keats or Baudelaire’s intoxication poems, embodying liberation through sensory excess.
Example
Example in poetry:
Bacchanalian verse: Catullus’ Poem 63, with its frenzied rhythms and depictions of Cybele’s rites, exemplifies Bacchanalian verse—ecstatic, wild, and devoted to Dionysian excess.
Additional Notes
Bacchanalian verse: Poetry celebrating Dionysian ecstasy, wine, and revelry; characterized by exuberant rhythm and sensual imagery; contrasts with Apollonian restraint.
Also Known As
Dionysian verse Wine-celebration poetry Ecstatic revelry verse Frenzied worship poetry
Skip to main content