Home › Glossary › Letter C

Corneille

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

French dramatist known for tragedies exploring honor, duty, and moral conflict

Detailed Definition
Pierre Corneille’s plays like "Le Cid" established French classical theater with heroic dilemmas. His work influenced poetic notions of nobility and sacrifice. Poets reference him to examine the tension between passion and principle, and the tragic grandeur of ethical choice.
Example
Example in poetry:
Pierre Corneille appears in French neoclassical poetry as a master of heroic drama; Poets reference “Le Cid” to explore honor, love, and duty; His alexandrine verse becomes a model for formal discipline; In Enlightenment poetry, Corneille symbolizes moral rigor; Modern poets contrast Corneille’s stoicism with Racine’s passion; His influence on tragic structure inspires metapoetic reflections.
Additional Notes
Pierre Corneille (1606–1684) was a French dramatist known for tragedies like “Le Cid,” exploring honor, duty, and passion; in poetry, Corneille represents classical rigor, heroic conflict, and the French neoclassical ideal—his influence extends to poetic drama and the “bienséance” (decorum) that shaped 17th-century verse; useful for analyzing conflicts between love and honor in historical contexts.
Also Known As
Pierre Corneille
Skip to main content