Home › Glossary › Letter R

Rapt

Mood
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

A mood of total absorption, where the subject or speaker is entranced by thought, beauty, or emotion.

Detailed Definition
Rapt mood in poetry conveys total immersion through focused imagery, suspended rhythm, and intense diction; it appears in mystical verse, love lyrics, or nature epiphanies—like Keats or Rumi—where the speaker is lost in a moment of profound attention, transforming ordinary perception into a gateway to transcendence, wonder, or deep emotional truth.
Example
Example in poetry:
In “Ode to a Nightingale,” Keats is rapt by the bird’s immortal song; Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” shows the speaker rapt by life’s abundance; In “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” Wordsworth is rapt by the dancing daffodils; Emily Dickinson’s “I taste a liquor never brewed” describes being rapt by natural ecstasy; In “The Tyger,” Blake is rapt by creation’s symmetry; Mary Oliver’s “The Summer Day” leaves the reader rapt by life’s preciousness.
Additional Notes
Rapt mood suggests complete absorption or enchantment; signaled by frozen syntax, intense focus, and sensory detail—e.g., moments of awe or revelation; closely tied to enraptured, rapturous, and ecstatic moods; ideal for depicting aesthetic or spiritual epiphanies.
Also Known As
Enchanted Absorbed Captivated Spellbound Entranced Enraptured
Skip to main content