Home › Glossary › Letter E

Enlightenment verse

Genre
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

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

Poetry reflecting the ideals, rationalism, and philosophical inquiries of the 18th-century Enlightenment era

Detailed Definition
Enlightenment verse reflects 18th-century ideals of reason, empiricism, and social progress, favoring clarity, didacticism, and neoclassical form over emotional excess; poets like Alexander Pope used heroic couplets to satirize folly, promote virtue, and celebrate human intellect, aligning poetic craft with philosophical inquiry and civic responsibility.
Example
Example in poetry:
Alexander Pope’s “An Essay on Man” uses heroic couplets to argue Enlightenment ideals; Voltaire’s poetic satires critique dogma through reason; Phillis Wheatley’s “On Being Brought from Africa to America” engages Enlightenment discourse on virtue and reason; Mary Wollstonecraft’s poetic fragments advocate rational education for women.
Additional Notes
Enlightenment verse emphasizes reason, progress, and empirical observation; typically orderly in form and skeptical of superstition—exemplified by Pope’s heroic couplets or scientific poetry of the 18th century.
Also Known As
Neoclassical verse rational lyric Age of Reason poetry philosophical ode Age of Reason verse Enlightenment poetry
Skip to main content