Home › Glossary › Letter U

Unconscious

Psychology
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

Mental processes outside conscious awareness, influencing behavior.

Detailed Definition
The unconscious holds repressed desires and memories. Poetry accesses it through dream logic, free association, or symbolic imagery, revealing hidden motivations and the depth beneath rational surface.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy,” the unconscious surfaces in dreamlike imagery; In T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” the unconscious fragments narrative and hope; In Emily Dickinson’s “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” the unconscious collapses sensory boundaries; In W.B. Yeats’ “The Second Coming,” the unconscious unravels apocalyptically; In Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” the unconscious rails against societal repression; In Ocean Vuong’s “Notebook Fragments,” the unconscious weaves memory and desire.
Additional Notes
Unconscious—mental processes outside awareness—is Freud’s foundational concept; in poetry, it appears as dream logic, slips, or symbolic imagery; students should look for what’s repressed or displaced; poetic techniques include surreal juxtaposition, free association, or mythic allusion; note its creative potential—unconscious as source of metaphor.
Other Meanings of “Unconscious”
Also Known As
Subconscious Unconscious mind Hidden psyche Dead to the world
Skip to main content