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dolorous

Diction
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

Full of sorrow or grief. It is a literary word, not everyday modern usage.

Detailed Definition
In poetry, dolorous often describes a voice, tone, or expression that sounds mournful and deeply sorrowful. Hood uses it to intensify the speaker’s misery and to make the song itself seem plaintive and exhausted.
Example
Example in poetry:
“And still with the voice of dolorous pitch” (Poe, “The Raven”); “A dolorous cry rose from the shore” (sorrowful sound); “The dolorous bells” (mournful Gothic diction); “Her dolorous song made winter seem nearer” (emotion through sound)
Additional Notes
The word "dolorous" in "voice of dolorous pitch" is a literary term many readers would need to look up.; Found in the poem, The Song of the Shirt by Thomas Hood
Also Known As
sorrowful mournful grief-stricken woeful
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