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darkling

Adjective
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

Growing dark or existing in dimness; the word often conveys shadowy uncertainty, obscurity, or the approaching onset of night.

Detailed Definition
Darkling is an old poetic adjective meaning in darkness or becoming dark. Arnold uses it to describe the plain as a place of uncertainty and confusion, matching the poem’s bleak mood.
Example
Example in poetry:
Arnold writes, “And we are here as on a darkling plain / Swept with confused alarms,” making darkling mean dark or obscure; “Darkling” often creates a twilight mood rather than simple physical darkness; Keats’s “Ode to a Nightingale” begins, “Darkling I listen,” linking darkness with inward attention; “Across the darkling field, phones flashed” updates the adjective for a contemporary scene
Additional Notes
“Darkling” is an archaic poetic word, and in “darkling plain” it may puzzle modern readers.; Found in the poem, Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold
Other Meanings of “darkling”
Also Known As
shadowy twilight dusky dim
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