Home › Glossary › Letter H

hearken

Archaic Terms
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

To listen attentively or obediently—implying respect or submission, often in devotional or hierarchical contexts.

Detailed Definition
“Hearken” implies respectful attention, often to divine or elder voice. In biblical and pastoral poetry, it frames receptivity as virtue. The verb’s softness suits meditative tone. Poets use it to contrast willful deafness with humble listening, reinforcing themes of wisdom, obedience, or spiritual attunement in didactic and lyrical traditions.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Hearken, O my people, to the voice of wisdom,” in prophetic poetry; In Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”: “He holds him with his glittering eye— / The Wedding-Guest stood still, / And listens like a three years’ child: / The Mariner hath his will... / He cannot choose but hear”—echoing “hearken”; “Hearken to the brook’s soft counsel,” advises a pastoral; Shakespeare’s King Lear: “Hearken to me, you who are wise”; “Hearken not to flatterers, but to truth,” warns a moral epistle; The knight hearkened to his conscience, not the crowd.
Additional Notes
“Hearken” implies obedient or reverent listening, deeper than mere hearing; in biblical or prophetic contexts, “hearken unto me” demands moral attention, making it a key term in didactic or divine-address poetry.
Also Known As
listen attend obey
Skip to main content