Home › Glossary › Letter J

Jeanne d'Arc

Historical Figure
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

Joan of Arc (c. 1412–1431), French peasant girl who led armies against England in the Hundred Years’ War and was burned as a heretic.

Detailed Definition
Joan embodies divine inspiration, military heroism, and martyrdom. In poetry, she symbolizes youthful faith, national liberation, female agency in war, and the conflict between vision and institutional power. Poets from Schiller onward use her to explore sanctity, patriotism, gender transgression, and the tragedy of misunderstood genius or holiness.
Example
Example in poetry:
Poets depict Jeanne d'Arc as the divinely inspired peasant girl whose military leadership and martyrdom symbolize faith-driven resistance and national liberation.; Verse often explores her as a figure of youthful holiness clashing with institutional skepticism.; A poet might invoke Joan of Arc to examine gender transgression, visionary courage, and the tragedy of misunderstood sanctity.; In dramatic poetry like Eliot's echoes, she represents conscience against political expediency.; Poets use her to celebrate patriotism and the power of individual conviction in times of war.; Her story enriches meditations on holiness, betrayal, and the intersection of divine calling with human history.
Additional Notes
Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc) stands as poetry’s quintessential figure of divine inspiration, military heroism, and martyrdom. The peasant girl who led French armies in the Hundred Years’ War and was burned as a heretic embodies youthful faith and national liberation. Usage tip: draw on her voices and trial to explore visionary courage against institutional skepticism; contrast gender norms with her armored leadership for themes of transgression and sanctity. In dramatic poetry she symbolizes principled resistance and misunderstood holiness. Related concepts include hagiography and French national myth. Professors might encourage ekphrastic responses to her statues or comparisons with other warrior-saints like Boadicea. Her story offers profound ground for meditating on faith, patriotism, betrayal, and the tragic cost of conviction in verse.
Also Known As
Joan of Arc Saint Joan of Arc Jeanne d'Arc the Maid of Orléans
Skip to main content