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Humility

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 modest self-awareness that acknowledges one's limitations; in poetry, it tempers pride, invites empathy, and often appears in characters who learn through vulnerable self-reflection.

Detailed Definition
Humility in poetry speaks through plain diction, self-deprecating tones, and imagery of smallness—dust, grass, servant. Poets use it to convey wisdom, piety, or genuine vulnerability, contrasting with pride. It appears in devotional verse, nature lyrics, and autobiographical reflections, inviting readers to value the ordinary. Humility can be aspirational or imposed, and its presence often undercuts bravado, revealing the speaker's deeper truth.
Example
Example in poetry:
Humility in devotional poetry where speakers acknowledge their limitations; Wordsworth's nature poetry often shows humility before the sublime; George Herbert's religious poetry emphasizes humility before God; In "The Pulley," Herbert shows God withholding rest to keep humans humble; Mary Oliver's nature poems express humility before the natural world; The speaker in many psalms adopts a posture of humility and dependence.
Additional Notes
Humility in poetry speaks through plain diction, self-deprecating tones, and imagery of smallness—dust, grass, servant—conveying wisdom, piety, or genuine vulnerability. In teaching, distinguish humility from shame: humility is modest self-awareness, while shame is a sense of worthlessness. Poets use humility in devotional verse, nature lyrics, and autobiographical reflections. It can be aspirational or imposed, and its presence often undercuts bravado. Students should examine how poets use understatement, second-person address, and imagery of the ordinary to convey humility's quiet strength.
Also Known As
Modesty lowliness meekness humbleness self-effacement
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