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nun

Historical Office
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

A woman who lives in a convent under religious vows, dedicated to prayer and service

Detailed Definition
The nun appears in poetry as a figure of devotion, seclusion, and feminine spirituality. Historically engaged in education, healthcare, or contemplation, nuns embodied sacred commitment. In verse, they symbolize purity, sacrifice, or constrained agency. Poets use nuns to explore themes of vocation, silence, and the tension between divine love and earthly longing, often portraying convents as spaces of both sanctuary and confinement.
Example
Example in poetry:
In medieval devotional verse, the nun takes vows with quiet resolve; Victorian poets like Christina Rossetti depict nuns as brides of Christ; The nun in Tennyson’s "The Palace of Art" chooses solitude over vanity; Nuns appear in convent odes tending gardens and manuscripts; In Reformation poetry, nuns face displacement and doubt; Their habits symbolize both piety and confinement.
Additional Notes
Nuns lived under vows in convents, engaging in prayer, teaching, or nursing—suppressed in Protestant regions, they became figures of mystery or devotion—poetic nuns explore enclosure, faith, or female community; their silence and ritual offer rich metaphors for contemplation or repression.
Also Known As
sister religious sister
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