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Humiliation

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

A profound emotional state of shame or abasement resulting from public disgrace, loss of status, or personal failure.

Detailed Definition
Humiliation wounds the core self. Poets depict it through fragmented voice, lowered gaze imagery, or silence, exposing the social mechanics of power and the lasting psychological scars of exposure and judgment.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Sylvia Plath’s “Lady Lazarus,” humiliation is performed for an audience: “Gentlemen, ladies / These are my hands / My knees”; In Langston Hughes’ “I, Too,” humiliation is implied in being sent to eat in the kitchen; In Emily Dickinson’s “I’m Nobody! Who are you?”, humiliation is avoided by rejecting public identity; In Warsan Shire’s “For Women Who Are ‘Difficult’ to Love,” humiliation is reclaimed through self-definition; In Robert Hayden’s “The Whipping,” humiliation scars childhood memory; In Ocean Vuong’s “Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong,” humiliation intertwines with queer identity.
Additional Notes
Humiliation—enforced degradation—often appears in poems of racism, gender violence, or colonialism (Hughes, Shire); differs from shame by its public, interpersonal nature; poetic techniques include direct address, bodily imagery, or reclaimed language; students should consider agency: Does the poem resist or internalize humiliation?; note its link to dignity—humiliation seeks to strip it.
Also Known As
Mortification Embarrassment Degradation Shame Pie in the face
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