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kinsmen

Archaic Terms
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

An archaic term for male relatives or members of the same kinship group; in poetry, it emphasizes lineage, clan loyalty, and the bonds of blood in familial and tribal contexts.

Detailed Definition
“Kinsmen” refers to Annabel Lee’s male relatives, probably her family members or relations. The word’s formal, old-fashioned sense suits the fairy-tale-like kingdom and tragic narrative of the poem.
Example
Example in poetry:
Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shalott”: “So that her highborn kinsmen came / And bore her away from me”; Kinsmen means male relatives or members of one’s family group; In ballad diction, “Her kinsmen gathered by the bier” evokes clan loyalty and mourning; A modern poem might revise the gendered term with “kin,” while kinsmen retains an archaic or historical tone
Additional Notes
The quoted plural is an old-fashioned kinship term that some readers may not immediately recognize as meaning male relatives.; Found in the poem, Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe
Also Known As
relatives family kinfolk
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