Home › Glossary › Letter R

Rhapsodic

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 unrestrained emotional fervor or ecstatic intensity, often expressed through hyperbolic language, exclamation, or lyrical outburst.

Detailed Definition
Rhapsodic mood in poetry conveys unbridled emotional outpouring through flowing rhythm, extravagant imagery, and lyrical intensity; it appears in odes, love poems, or mystical verse—like Shelley or Neruda—where the poet abandons restraint to celebrate beauty, passion, or the divine, transforming language into a cascade of feeling that overwhelms reason with sheer expressive power.
Example
Example in poetry:
In “Ode to a Nightingale,” Keats’ lush imagery creates a rhapsodic escape; Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” bursts with rhapsodic celebration; In “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” Wordsworth’s heart dances with rhapsodic joy; Emily Dickinson’s “I taste a liquor never brewed” conveys rhapsodic intoxication; In “The Tyger,” Blake’s hammering rhythm exudes rhapsodic awe; Mary Oliver’s “The Summer Day” ends with rhapsodic urgency about living.
Additional Notes
Rhapsodic mood denotes ecstatic, improvisational enthusiasm; conveyed through flowing syntax, associative leaps, and lyrical excess—e.g., Whitman or Ginsberg; overlaps with ecstatic, rapturous, and exuberant moods; often breaks formal constraints to mirror emotional overflow.
Also Known As
Ecstatic Enthusiastic Inspired Passionate Exultant
Skip to main content