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Humanism

Philosophy
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

Humanism emphasizes human dignity, reason, and agency, often centering secular values and classical learning.

Detailed Definition
Poetry has long been a vehicle for humanist ideals—celebrating individual potential, empathy, and critical thought. From Renaissance sonnets to modern civic verse, humanism appears in affirmations of shared humanity against dogma, violence, or dehumanization.
Example
Example in poetry:
Percy Bysshe Shelley’s "A Defence of Poetry" declares poets the "unacknowledged legislators of the world," affirming humanist ideals; Walt Whitman’s "Song of Myself" celebrates universal human dignity and potential; Langston Hughes’s "I, Too" asserts the humanity of the marginalized; Renaissance sonnets (Sidney, Spenser) link love and virtue to humanist self-cultivation; humanism animates Maya Angelou’s "Still I Rise," which affirms resilience and worth against dehumanization.
Additional Notes
Humanism in poetry affirms reason, empathy, and individual dignity but has been critiqued for Eurocentrism and anthropocentrism; Renaissance sonnets and Whitman embody classic humanism, while postcolonial poets (Walcott) revise it to include marginalized voices; students should ask: whose “human” is centered, and at whose expense?
Also Known As
Secular Humanism Classical Humanism Renaissance Humanism
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