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Gleeful

Mood
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 mood conveying exuberant, often playful or mischievous joy, marked by lighthearted delight and spirited enthusiasm.

Detailed Definition
Gleeful mood in poetry conveys playful delight through skipping rhythm, bright diction, and whimsical imagery; it appears in trickster tales, satirical verse, or childhood lyrics—like Lear or Nash—where joy is laced with mischief, celebrating the subversive pleasure of rule-breaking, surprise, or laughter as a form of liberation from seriousness.
Example
Example in poetry:
In “in Just-,” e.e. cummings captures children’s gleeful play in spring mud; In “The Lamb,” William Blake presents innocent, gleeful trust in creation; A.A. Milne’s “Vespers” radiates gleeful childhood devotion; In “Song of Myself,” Whitman gleefully celebrates the body and senses; Emily Dickinson’s “I taste a liquor never brewed” conveys gleeful intoxication with nature; In “Still I Rise,” Maya Angelou’s triumphant tone includes gleeful defiance (“Does my sassiness upset you?”).
Additional Notes
Gleeful mood expresses mischievous or triumphant delight; conveyed through playful rhythm, bright sounds, and cheeky imagery—e.g., limericks or satirical verse; related to whimsical, vivacious, and buoyant moods; often carries an edge of irony or subversion.
Also Known As
Joyful Merry Delighted Jovial Elated Joyous
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