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Weltende

Concept
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

German for “end of the world,” used in apocalyptic or fin-de-siècle poetry

Detailed Definition
Weltende (German for "end of the world") is a term popularized by German Expressionist poet Jakob van Hoddis in his 1911 poem of the same name, which depicts apocalyptic urban chaos with ironic detachment. In poetic usage, Weltende signifies a subgenre of apocalyptic or catastrophic lyric that blends dread and dark humor, portraying societal collapse through surreal, fragmented imagery. Unlike traditional eschatology, Weltende poems often focus on human folly and the absurdity of disaster, reflecting early 20th-century anxieties about modernity. For students, this concept illustrates how poetry can respond to historical crisis with stylistic innovation, merging prophecy and parody to critique civilization’s fragility.
Example
Example in poetry:
Jakob van Hoddis’s “Weltende” (“End of the World”): “The bourgeois hat flies off the head— / the storm has come!”—apocalyptic urban imagery; “Roofs fly like birds; trams derail— / nature reclaims the steel” — early 20th-century eco-catastrophe vision; Modern reinterpretation: “Subway floods, phones die— / the grid surrenders to the tide”
Additional Notes
Poetry of world's end or apocalypse. German Expressionist concept. Related to catastrophe poetry. Features fragmentation, urban decay, and cosmic dissolution. Study Expressionist movement context.
Also Known As
apocalypse trope end-time lyric
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