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Fin de Siècle

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

The late 19th century, particularly the 1880s-1900, characterized by cultural pessimism, aesthetic sophistication, sexual anxiety, and the sense that civilization was in decline. Associated with Decadence and the Symbolist movement.

Detailed Definition
Fin de Siècle poetry embraced decay, artificiality, and psychological complexity while confronting anxieties about modernity and progress. Poets celebrated refinement amid apocalyptic anxiety. This period appears in poetry through imagery of decay and corruption, exploration of artificial beauty and decadence, sexual transgression and gender anxiety, sophisticated linguistic refinement, fascination with death and oblivion, and the aesthetic cultivation of beauty amid cultural pessimism.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poem characterized by weariness, decadence, and a sense of impending doom and cultural exhaustion at the close of the 19th century, defining Fin de Siècle; The use of themes like ennui, spiritual malaise, and the obsession with artificial beauty or perverse pleasure; A work that looks back nostalgically on past historical periods as superior to the contemporary age; A lyrical poem using dark, autumnal imagery to symbolize decline and decay.
Additional Notes
Fin de Siècle (“end of the century”) literature (c. 1880–1900) expressed decadence, pessimism, and aesthetic experimentation. Symbolist poets like Verlaine and Wilde mirrored cultural fatigue while innovating poetic form and sensual expression.
Also Known As
Fin de Siècle Period Fin de Century Turn of the Century
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