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wovest

Archaic Terms
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

The archaic second-person past tense of "weave" ("thou wovest"); used in historical or meditative verse describing cloth or fate.

Detailed Definition
This is an archaic verb form meaning “you wove.” Shelley uses it in elevated poetic diction, where older verb endings help create a solemn, timeless tone.
Example
Example in poetry:
Shelley, “To Jane: The Invitation”: “Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear,” uses wovest as archaic second-person singular past tense of weave; “Thou wovest” addresses one intimate or elevated “thou,” common in older lyric and religious diction; “While I slept, thou wovest moonlight through the trees” shows the verb’s literal and metaphorical possibilities; In contemporary English, “you wove” is standard, while wovest can create a deliberately antique music
Additional Notes
The form "wovest" in the quoted line is an old verb ending that modern readers may not recognize immediately.; Found in the poem, To Night by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Also Known As
woven spun entwined
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