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emotional hypersensitivity

Concept
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 thematic focus on extreme emotional sensitivity—often to beauty, pain, or injustice—as a defining trait of the poetic speaker or subject.

Detailed Definition
A psychological state of extreme sensitivity to emotional stimuli, often explored as theme or condition in poetry, particularly in Romantic and confessional traditions. Keats described this condition in relation to beauty and art, where aesthetic experiences produce overwhelming emotional responses. As poetic subject, it explores the vulnerability and intensity of artistic sensibility, examining both creative inspiration and psychological burden.
Example
Example in poetry:
Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” exhibits emotional hypersensitivity through its obsessive imagery and accusatory tone (“I have always been scared of you”); Anne Sexton’s “Wanting to Die” conveys hypersensitive despair: “But suicides have a special language”; Ocean Vuong’s “Telemachus” renders grief with trembling vulnerability: “like a son / who’s just learned his father is a ghost”; Louise Glück’s “Gretel in Darkness” replays trauma with acute psychological sensitivity; Frank Bidart’s “Confessional” exposes raw self-loathing with hypersensitive intensity; Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen” documents microaggressions with heightened emotional acuity.
Additional Notes
Often explored in Romantic and confessional poetry. Keats's letters describe this condition in relation to beauty and art. Can be both creative inspiration and artistic burden.
Also Known As
Aesthetic sensitivity Sensory overwhelm Keatsian susceptibility Erethism
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