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Greed

Psychology
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

Excessive and insatiable desire for more, especially wealth or power.

Detailed Definition
Greed in poetry saturates dramatic monologues, satires, and cautionary tales. Poets depict it through accumulation imagery, possessive pronouns, and relentless lists. Greed drives conflict, isolates the individual, and corrupts communities. It serves as a moral lens, exposing human folly and societal inequality. Poets like Chaucer or Auden use greed to critique avarice, often juxtaposing it with generosity or death's leveling finality.
Example
Example in poetry:
Greed in Stephen Crane's "In the Desert" portrays greed and self-destruction; Petrarch's "Greed and sleep and slothful beds" says greed has banished virtue; "Greed" by the Poetry Foundation describes stripping oneself of everything precious; "The Flowers" contrasts greed with the worth of flowers; "Greed" by Micheal King tells of a king who died of greed; "Graven Greediness" describes how greed fixates as a child grows.
Additional Notes
Greed in poetry saturates dramatic monologues, satires, and cautionary tales through accumulation imagery, possessive pronouns, and relentless lists. Poets depict greed's isolation and corruption, often juxtaposing it with generosity or death's leveling finality. In teaching, distinguish greed from envy: greed is excessive desire for more, while envy is desire for what another has. Greed serves as a moral lens, exposing human folly and societal inequality. Students should analyze how poets use cataloging, hyperbole, and contrast to convey greed's insatiable nature.
Also Known As
Avarice covetousness rapacity acquisition materialism
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