Fireside Poets

Movement
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

A group of 19th-century American poets known for domestic themes and traditional forms, including Longfellow and Whittier

Detailed Definition
The Fireside Poets—Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes, Lowell, and Bryant—were 19th-century American poets known for accessible, moralistic, and narrative verse meant for domestic reading aloud; their conventional forms, sentimental themes, and emphasis on virtue shaped early American literary identity, though later modernists critiqued their perceived conservatism and didacticism.
Example
Example in poetry:
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Paul Revere’s Ride”; John Greenleaf Whittier’s abolitionist poems read in 19th-century parlors; James Russell Lowell’s “The Biglow Papers,” using dialect for moral instruction; Oliver Wendell Holmes’ “Old Ironsides,” celebrating national heritage in accessible verse
Additional Notes
The Fireside Poets (Longfellow, Whittier, etc.) were 19th-century American poets known for accessible, moralistic verse meant for domestic reading.
Also Known As
Fireside School Domestic poets Hearthside versifiers Popular American lyricists American Fireside Poets Household Poets New England Fireside Poets Schoolroom Classics Fireside Poets Era
Skip to main content