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bonnet

Apparel
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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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 head covering tied under the chin, worn by women and children, typically made of cloth or straw, associated with modesty, protection, and the outdoor life in rural poetry.

Detailed Definition
The bonnet is one of the most evocative garments of 19th-century domestic and rural poetry, frequently appearing in poems about country walks, churchgoing, and daily chores. Its ties under the chin create a frame for the face, and its brim provides shade, making it both functional and picturesque. In love poetry, a bonnet might be knocked askew by a playful wind, revealing a blush. In elegiac verse, a mother's bonnet hanging on a peg can be a poignant relic. The bonnet's decline in fashion is often noted in poems of social change. Its humble materials—straw, calico, silk—speak to class and occasion, and its presence in a poem immediately establishes a historical setting, usually 18th or 19th century rural England or America.
Example
Example in poetry:
"This bonnet, that theekit his wonderfu' head, was his shelter in winter" (Robert Tannahill); "I once was a Sunday bonnet and shaded a lovely face" ("The Complaint of a Bonnet"); "LAST night Alicia wore a Tuscan bonnet, and many humming-birds were fastened on it" (Elizabeth Jones Pullen); "The Bonnet of drab beats a turban with me" (Bernard Barton, "Drab Bonnets"); "Bessie hath a dimpled chin... But -- she hath a bonnet" (Amos Russel Wells); "My bonnet of blue, my bonnet of blue, what shifting scenes have been thine to pass through!" (Frances Ellen Watkins Harper)
Additional Notes
The bonnet is one of the most evocative garments of 19th-century domestic and rural poetry, frequently appearing in poems about country walks, churchgoing, and daily chores. Its ties under the chin create a frame for the face, and its brim provides shade, making it both functional and picturesque. The bonnet's decline in fashion is often noted in poems of social change, where its absence or replacement by hats signals the passage of time. Its humble materials—straw, calico, silk—speak to class and occasion, and its presence immediately establishes a historical setting, usually 18th or 19th century rural England or America. In love poetry, a bonnet might be knocked askew by a playful wind, revealing a blush. In elegiac verse, a mother's bonnet hanging on a peg can be a poignant relic of loss. The bonnet is closely related to the cap, hood, and sunbonnet, each with slightly different poetic registers. Students should note the bonnet's dual function as both practical headwear and potent symbol of modesty, femininity, and a particular bygone era.
Also Known As
woman's hat sunbonnet poke bonnet
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