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Desire

Psychology
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

Intense longing or craving for an object, person, or state of being.

Detailed Definition
Desire is poetry's engine, fueling love lyrics, religious ecstasy, and political aspiration. It manifests through urgent rhythms, sensual imagery, and unfinished gestures. Poets explore desire's paradoxes—its power to elevate and destroy, its insatiability, and its collision with reality. Desire bridges the corporeal and the ideal, making it a perennial subject from Sappho to contemporary spoken word.
Example
Example in poetry:
Desire in Thomas Traherne's "Desire" calls it an "Eager Thirst, a burning Ardent fire"; Pablo Neruda's "Love Sonnet XI" celebrates elemental desire; Randall Jarrell's "90 North" shows how reaching a goal can feel empty; Hester Pulter's poetry desires death as obliviation from suffering; José Lezama Lima's "Aventuras sigilosas" uses desire as a structural principle; The poem "Desire" by Madison Cawein imagines desire as Israfel burning above.
Additional Notes
Desire is poetry's engine, fueling love lyrics, religious ecstasy, and political aspiration through urgent rhythms, sensual imagery, and unfinished gestures. Poets explore desire's paradoxes—its power to elevate and destroy, its insatiability, and its collision with reality. In teaching, distinguish desire from longing: longing implies wistful yearning for something distant, while desire is more immediate and craving-driven. Desire bridges the corporeal and the ideal, making it a perennial subject from Sappho to contemporary spoken word. Students should analyze how imagery of fire, hunger, or movement conveys the urgency of desire.
Other Meanings of “Desire”
Also Known As
Craving longing passion hunger yearning
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