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Existentialist Movement

Historical And Literary Periods
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 mid-20th century philosophical movement emphasizing individual freedom, radical responsibility, and the absence of pre-determined essence or meaning. Associated with thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, profoundly influencing literature and poetry.

Detailed Definition
The Existentialist Movement transformed poetry through emphasis on individual freedom, anxiety, and the search for meaning in an absurd universe. Poets engaged explicitly with existential philosophy. This movement appears in poetry through exploration of freedom and responsibility, representations of anxiety and absurdity, philosophical questioning of meaning and purpose, assertions of individual consciousness and choice, rejection of traditional authority and certainty, and the use of poetry as a vehicle for existential exploration and meaning-making.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poem grappling with the core questions of freedom, responsibility, and the meaninglessness of existence in a godless universe, reflecting the Existentialist Movement; A work that focuses on a moment of intense subjective experience or 'bad faith' where a character avoids ultimate responsibility; The use of stark, simple language to convey the loneliness and anxiety of individual freedom; A poem structured as an internal debate on the nature of choice and consequence.
Additional Notes
The Existentialist Movement (mid-20th century) influenced poetry centred on freedom, alienation, and absurdity. Poets like Albert Camus (in prose-poetic form) and Jean-Paul Sartre inspired introspective verse questioning meaning and authenticity in modern life.
Also Known As
Existentialism Existentialist Era
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