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Numinous

Philosophy
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

The numinous is Otto’s term for the awe-inspiring, mysterious presence of the holy—wholly other yet captivating. It evokes dread and fascination.

Detailed Definition
Poetry evokes the numinous through sublime landscapes, sacred silence, or uncanny encounters. Philosophically, it captures religious experience beyond dogma—where the poem becomes threshold to mystery, and language trembles at the edge of the unspeakable divine.
Example
Example in poetry:
Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies evoke angels as wholly other yet captivating; W.B. Yeats’s “The Second Coming” presents sphinx as numinous horror; Gerard Manley Hopkins’s “The Windhover” sees Christ in falcon’s flight as awe-inspiring; Emily Dickinson’s “I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—” confronts death’s uncanny presence; Seamus Heaney’s “The Tollund Man” treats bog body as sacred relic; Wallace Stevens’s “Sunday Morning” contemplates divinity in absence with numinous longing.
Additional Notes
Numinous (Otto) is awe-inspiring holy presence—wholly other yet captivating. In poetry, it appears as sublime encounters: Hopkins’s “Windhover,” Rilke’s angels. Students should distinguish it from beautiful or moral—numinous evokes dread/fascination. Related to mysterium tremendum, transcendence, and apophasis. Professors can link it to negative theology.
Also Known As
Holy Sacred Mysterium tremendum
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