starkness

noun

Etymology: From Middle English starknes, starkenes, starkenesse, equivalent to stark + -ness.

1. The state or quality of being stark.

   “In the morning the framed photograph of the two of them, hanging on the sitting-room wall, was gone. The patch of wall where it had been hanging a hurtful rectangle of dusty starkness.”

   “The power of the stories overrides everything else. The quiet starkness of the telling: […]”

2. The result or product of being stark.