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thorns

Flora
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 prickly plant or stem with sharp points. In poetry, it can suggest pain or harshness.

Detailed Definition
A thorn is a sharp point on a plant, especially on shrubs or roses. Poets often use it symbolically to suggest suffering, cruelty, or an unpleasant character. Here it appears in contrast with the fading flowers, helping describe people who are hard to love.
Example
Example in poetry:
“But some so like to thorns and nettles live” contrasts painful plants with cultivated flowers; Shakespeare’s “rough thorns” often suggest danger or obstruction; “A crown of thorns” invokes suffering through Christian symbolism; Contemporary eco-poetry may make thorns protective rather than merely hostile
Additional Notes
In the line quoted, 'thorns' is a specific plant term that may be less immediate than common everyday vocabulary.; Found in the poem, Fade, Flow'rs! by Edmund Waller
Also Known As
Brambles Spines Prickles
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