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Eclipse

Science
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

An astronomical event in which one celestial body passes into the shadow of another, blocking light; in poetry, it symbolizes obscuration, cosmic alignment, dread, or the temporary veiling of familiar radiance.

Detailed Definition
An eclipse allows a poet to make darkness temporary, patterned, and celestial. When the moon covers the sun or Earth darkens the moon, familiar light becomes strange, prompting awe and unease. Poems may use an eclipse to represent interruption, concealment, grief, or a moment when ordinary order seems suspended. Because the obscured body remains present, the term can also suggest love, memory, or hope that has not vanished but is briefly hidden.
Example
Example in poetry:
“During the eclipse, daylight thinned to a metallic dusk” gives sensory detail to an astronomical event; A poet might write, “Your absence was an eclipse, not the end of the sun,” distinguishing temporary obscuring from loss; “The moon crossed the sun like a dark syllable” turns eclipse into an image of interruption in language; In an elegy, an eclipse can mark communal astonishment: “Even the birds fell silent when the light withdrew”
Additional Notes
An eclipse may be solar or lunar; it occurs when celestial alignment causes one body to block light from another.
Other Meanings of “Eclipse”
Also Known As
Occultation
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