Home › Glossary › Letter C

Courage

Psychology
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

Moral or mental fortitude to confront fear, pain, danger, or uncertainty—often explored in poetry as resilience, resolve, or inner strength.

Detailed Definition
Courage is not the absence of fear but its confrontation. Poets portray it through defiant tone, heroic imagery, or quiet resolve, often situating it within personal or political resistance, thereby elevating ordinary resilience to the realm of the noble.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise,” courage defies historical oppression: “You may shoot me with your words… But still, like dust, I’ll rise”; In Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son,” courage is passed down through perseverance: “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair”; In Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est,” courage lies in truth-telling against patriotic lies; In Audre Lorde’s “A Litany for Survival,” courage means speaking despite fear; In Seamus Heaney’s “Digging,” courage is redefined as poetic labor honoring ancestral toil; In Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool,” courage masks vulnerability in youthful rebellion.
Additional Notes
Courage in poetry is rarely heroic spectacle but quiet persistence (Hughes’ “Mother to Son”) or truth-telling (Lorde’s “Power”); rooted in existential philosophy (facing absurdity) and social ethics; poetic techniques include declarative syntax, repetition, or understatement; students should analyze whether courage is individual or collective, physical or moral; note its link to vulnerability—true courage often admits fear.
Also Known As
Bravery Valor Fortitude Fearlessness Spunk valour gameness mettle
Skip to main content