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Detachment

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

Emotional distance or disengagement from people, events, or one's own feelings.

Detailed Definition
Detachment in poetry creates cool, clinical, or ironic tones, often as a defense against pain or chaos. Poets use it to observe trauma with objectivity, as in war poetry or ekphrasis, or to dramatize alienation. Detachment can also signify enlightenment or stoic acceptance, yet its presence often highlights buried emotion, making the reader sense what the speaker withholds.
Example
Example in poetry:
Detachment in Charles Wright's "Reunion" uses poetry to "untie" and "disappear" from the past; William Ernest Henley's "In Hospital" shows detachment as a way of dealing with a horrible situation; Old English poems "The Wanderer," "The Seafarer," and "The Wife's Lament" all explore detachment from beloved places; Elinor Wylie's "Felo de Se" expresses painful emotional detachment from a beloved; In "Spring and Fall," the speaker's detachment from the child is notable; Anne Carson's "First Chaldaic Oracle" uses a detached voice for an appraising eye.
Additional Notes
Detachment in poetry creates cool, clinical, or ironic tones, often as a defense against pain or chaos. Poets use detachment to observe trauma with objectivity, as in war poetry or ekphrasis, or to dramatize alienation. In teaching, distinguish detachment from apathy: detachment is a chosen emotional distance, while apathy is an absence of feeling. Detachment can also signify enlightenment or stoic acceptance, yet its presence often highlights buried emotion, making the reader sense what the speaker withholds. Students should analyze how a poet's use of third-person narration, formal restraint, or understatement signals detachment.
Also Known As
Emotional distance separation aloofness objectivity withdrawal Alienation Dissociation Isolation Vairagya Platoon Squad severance
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