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Cross to bear

Idiomatic Phrase
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

Cross to bear: a personal burden or ongoing trial one must endure; the allusion to Christ carrying his cross gives the phrase spiritual resonance and implies patient suffering.

Detailed Definition
Cross to bear refers to a burden, suffering, duty, or private sorrow that a person must endure, drawing on Christian imagery of carrying the cross. In poetry, it is particularly resonant in devotional, elegiac, confessional, and moral contexts. The phrase can suggest sacrifice, guilt, illness, family responsibility, persecution, or spiritual trial. Because it carries religious weight, poets should use it carefully: it may ennoble suffering, question inherited ideas of endurance, or expose the danger of romanticising pain.
Example
Example in poetry:
A spiritual poem might call loneliness the speaker's cross to bear; In an elegy, the cross to bear may be guilt carried for years; The phrase suits poems about suffering, duty, and endurance; A poet could use it carefully to evoke burden without making pain decorative.
Additional Notes
A cross to bear means a personal burden, trial, or suffering, from Christian imagery of Christ carrying the cross. In poetry it carries religious, moral, and emotional weight. It can dignify endurance, but may also be questioned if suffering is imposed or romanticised. Students should consider tone carefully, since the phrase can sound solemn, clichéd, compassionate, or self-dramatising depending on context.
Also Known As
burden
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