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Echo

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

A mountain nymph in Greek myth cursed by Hera to only repeat the final words spoken to her; famously pined for Narcissus in vain.

Explore this topic in depth (1)

Allusion in Poetry — An allusion is a meaningful reference beyond the poem: to a story, person, place, song, belief or earlier work. This guide offers ways to notice and explore such references without treating poetry as a test of what you already know.

Detailed Definition
Echo, punished by Hera for distracting her from Zeus’s affairs, could only echo others’ words. She pined for Narcissus and faded away, leaving only her voice. In poetry, Echo symbolizes unrequited love, the loss of voice, and the haunting persistence of memory and sound.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Ovid’s "Metamorphoses," Echo fades to a voice after unrequited love for Narcissus; In T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” Echo’s voice fragments in modern alienation; In H.D.’s “Echo,” the nymph reclaims lyrical presence despite bodily absence; In W.H. Auden’s “The Sea and the Mirror,” Echo symbolizes poetic repetition and longing; In modern feminist poetry, Echo often represents marginalized female speech; In Louise Glück’s “The Triumph of Achilles,” Echo’s silence critiques gendered erasure.
Additional Notes
Echo, the nymph cursed to only repeat others’ words, symbolizes unrequited love, voicelessness, and the fragmentation of self; poets use her to explore themes of longing, the limits of language, and the echo as poetic device (repetition, resonance)—her fading body (leaving only voice) mirrors the poet’s anxiety about presence, memory, and the ephemeral nature of sound.
Also Known As
Nymph of Repetition Voice Without Form Lover of Narcissus Resonance Imitation
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