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Deirdre

Mythology
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

Deirdre is a tragic heroine whose beauty and fate bring sorrow to Ulster.

Detailed Definition
Her love for Naoise and their doomed escape from Conchobar’s court is a central tale of the Ulster Cycle. Deirdre’s story is rich in poetic themes of love, loss, and destiny. She symbolizes the destructive power of beauty and the inevitability of fate.
Example
Example in poetry:
Deirdre appears as the woman whose prophesied beauty brought destruction to Ulster in Irish tragic poetry; Poets use Deirdre of the Sorrows as a figure for beauty that becomes a curse rather than blessing; Her elopement with Naoise provides material for verses about love that defies social order; The image of Deirdre's suicide rather than submit to Conchobar creates powerful tragic closure; In feminist retellings, poets explore Deirdre's lack of agency in a story where men fight over her; Yeats and Synge made Deirdre central to the Irish literary revival, using her as a symbol of Ireland itself
Additional Notes
Deirdre’s tragic tale—the “Exile of the Sons of Uisneach”—is one of Irish myth’s great love stories, where her beauty incites jealousy, betrayal, and mass death; prophesied at birth to bring ruin, she chooses love (Naoise) over safety, defying King Conchobar; her lament for Naoise is among the most poignant in Celtic literature; poets may use Deirdre to explore fate, female autonomy, or the cost of desire; her story has inspired countless adaptations (Yeats, Synge), making her a bridge between ancient myth and modern drama.
Also Known As
Derdriu Deirdriu Dearduil
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