Home › Glossary › Letter L

Lucretius

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

Roman poet and philosopher who expounded Epicurean atomism in "De Rerum Natura"

Detailed Definition
Lucretius sought to free humanity from fear of gods and death through scientific poetry. His work survived by chance. Poets cite him as a symbol of rational liberation, the beauty of cosmic order, and the poet as teacher of serene detachment.
Example
Example in poetry:
Lucretius, Epicurean sage, wrote “De Rerum Natura” to disengage; Poets praise his didactic verse—atoms, void, and fear’s reverse; His argument against death’s dread (“when we are, death is not”) fuels stanzas bold; In Renaissance verse, his rediscovery sparked scientific poetic fusion; “Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum”—“so great the evils religion could persuade”—a line that poets weigh; Lucretius in modern stanzas: reason’s hymn against superstition’s grim.
Additional Notes
Lucretius (c. 99–55 BCE), Roman poet-philosopher of “De Rerum Natura,” expounded Epicurean atomism and the fearlessness of death; in poetry, Lucretius represents scientific poetry, materialist cosmology, and the liberation from superstition—his swerve (clinamen) and hymns to Venus influenced Renaissance and modern poets (e.g., Milton, Whitman); useful for analyzing poems on nature, mortality, or the poetic rendering of philosophy.
Also Known As
Titus Lucretius Carus
Skip to main content