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bull-baiting

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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

Bull-baiting is a blood sport involving dogs set upon a bull, popular in early modern England until banned.

Detailed Definition
Bull-baiting appears in poetry as a symbol of brute force and the staged conflict between strength and ferocity. In literature it represents popular entertainment's darker side and the testing of courage. Poets draw on the image to explore themes of endurance, the baiting of the powerful, and the crowd's appetite for violence as a reflection of societal aggression.
Example
Example in poetry:
Bull-baiting’s chained strength and attacking dogs supply poets with images of public cruelty; Early modern verse places the spectacle among the moral spectacles of the age; “The bull lowered its head while the terriers were set” illustrates staged suffering; Educational examples present the sport as a historical mirror of collective appetite; Verse retains the image when the powerful are tormented for the pleasure of the crowd.
Additional Notes
Bull-baiting’s chained bull and attacking dogs supplied early modern culture with a spectacle of strength tormented for public pleasure. Poets may condemn the cruelty or exploit its energy for political allegory. Instructors should note the sport’s eventual legal suppression as part of the history of sensibility. Related blood sports include bear-baiting and cockfighting. The image remains potent because the power of the bull is never in doubt, only its freedom.
Also Known As
bullbaiting
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