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Omen

Folklore
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 sign or event believed to predict future fortune or misfortune, often natural—birds, storms, shadows—interpreted by seers or witches.

Detailed Definition
Omens in poetry represent the universe’s silent language. They appear in prophetic and nature verse as moments when the world speaks—where a crow’s cry, a falling leaf, a cracked mirror is not coincidence, but covenant.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “By the pricking of my thumbs, / Something wicked this way comes”—this is the omen”; in Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale,” the bird’s song is an omen of mortality; in Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” the albatross is an omen of divine wrath; in Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” the sea is an omen of death’s call; in Yeats’ “The Second Coming,” the falcon flying wide is an omen of collapse; in Emily Dickinson’s “Because I could not stop for Death,” the carriage is an omen of eternity.
Additional Notes
Omen is a sign or event—birds, storms, shadows—believed to predict future fortune or misfortune, interpreted by seers or elders. In folklore, omens are not random—they are messages from the unseen. In poetry, omens create tension, foreshadowing, and the weight of fate. Poets use them to build atmosphere, suggest inevitability, or contrast human ignorance with cosmic awareness.
Also Known As
Portent Sign
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