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Uneasy

Mood
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 mood marked by low-level anxiety, restlessness, or a sense of impending but undefined threat or discomfort.

Detailed Definition
Uneasy mood in poetry conveys subtle disquiet through ambiguous imagery, irregular rhythm, and hesitant diction; it appears in psychological lyrics, social critiques, or liminal scenes—like Plath or Ashbery—where the speaker senses something amiss without clear cause, creating tension through atmospheric unease that mirrors modern alienation or existential uncertainty.
Example
Example in poetry:
In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” the speaker’s uneasy indecision (“Do I dare?”) conveys anxiety; In “The Raven,” Poe’s speaker grows uneasy as the bird’s presence deepens despair; Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” uses uneasy, breathless lines to express trauma; Emily Dickinson’s “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” builds uneasy tension before collapse; In “The Second Coming,” Yeats’ “widening gyre” suggests uneasy loss of control; In “Howl,” Ginsberg’s frantic catalogues create uneasy societal collapse.
Additional Notes
Uneasy mood suggests discomfort or vague anxiety; conveyed through ambiguous imagery, hesitant rhythm, and unresolved questions—e.g., liminal or uncanny spaces; overlaps with apprehensive, tense, and worried moods; often foreshadows larger conflict.
Also Known As
Anxious Apprehensive Nervous Restless Worried
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