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Repression

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

A psychological defense mechanism involving the unconscious suppression of painful, threatening, or unacceptable thoughts or desires.

Explore this topic in depth (1)

Gothic Poetry — Gothic poetry turns shadows, ruins, storms and supernatural suggestion into ways of exploring human fear, longing, guilt and uncertainty. More than a collection of frightening images, it is a flexible tradition concerned with what reason cannot comfortably explain.

Detailed Definition
Repression hides trauma beneath the surface. Poetry reveals it through gaps, silences, or symbolic eruptions—where the unsaid leaks into metaphor, rhythm, or sudden emotional shifts.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy,” repression masks anger toward the father; In T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” repression stifles action and desire; In Emily Dickinson’s “After great pain, a formal feeling comes,” repression numbs grief; In W.B. Yeats’ “Leda and the Swan,” repression inheres in the violent encounter; In Robert Frost’s “Home Burial,” repression avoids confronting loss; In Ocean Vuong’s “Aubade with Burning City,” repression echoes in survival amid war.
Additional Notes
Repression—unconscious blocking of distressing thoughts—is a key Freudian defense; in poetry, it appears as gaps, euphemism, or symbolic substitution; students should look for what’s unsaid; poetic techniques include ellipsis, metaphor, or disrupted narrative; note its link to trauma—repressed material often returns symptomatically.
Also Known As
Suppression Unconscious blocking Forgetting
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