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Neglect

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

Failure to care for someone or something; disregard or abandonment.

Detailed Definition
Neglect in poetry haunts through images of dust, untended gardens, silent telephones, and childlike longing. Poets use it to explore emotional deprivation, social inequality, or the erosion of relationships. Neglect appears in domestic dramas, war orphans' songs, and ecological warnings. It invites readers to feel the weight of absence and the slow decay of what is unattended, often indicting the neglectful and mourning the overlooked.
Example
Example in poetry:
Neglect in Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art" where neglect of relationships is explored; In W.H. Auden's "September 1, 1939," neglect of moral responsibility; In Sylvia Plath's poetry, neglect is often a theme; In contemporary poetry, neglect of the environment is critiqued; In "The Waste Land," neglect of spiritual values; In child welfare poetry, neglect is a central concern.
Additional Notes
Neglect in poetry haunts through images of dust, untended gardens, silent telephones, and childlike longing, exploring emotional deprivation, social inequality, or relationship erosion. In teaching, distinguish neglect from abandonment: neglect is failure to care, while abandonment is deliberate leaving. Neglect appears in domestic dramas, war orphans' songs, and ecological warnings. It invites readers to feel the weight of absence and slow decay. Students should examine how poets use imagery of stillness, disrepair, and silence to convey neglect's quiet, insidious damage.
Also Known As
Disregard abandonment oversight indifference carelessness
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