poetic diction

poetic diction

      grandiose, elevated, and unfamiliar language, supposedly the prerogative of poetry but not of prose.

      The earliest critical reference to poetic diction is Aristotle's remark in the Poetics that it should be clear without being “mean.” But subsequent generations of poets were more scrupulous in avoiding meanness than in cultivating clarity. Depending heavily on expressions used by previous poets, they evolved in time a language sprinkled with such archaic terms as eftsoons, prithee, oft, and ere. It was this “inane phraseology” that William Wordsworth (Wordsworth, William) rebelled against in his preface to the Lyrical Ballads (1800), in which he advocated a poetry written in the “language really used by men.” Subsequent critics, notably Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Coleridge, Samuel Taylor) in Biographia Literaria (1817), felt that Wordsworth overstated the case, that his own best work contradicted his theory, and that some of his work written in “the language really used by men” did not achieve the level of poetry.

      Modern critics take the position that there is no diction peculiar to poetry, though there may be a diction peculiar to an individual poem. Thus, Shakespeare's sonnet “Not marble, nor the gilded monuments,” beginning with such images of stately dignity, continues with words evocative of public pomp and temporal power.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Poetic diction — is the term used to refer to the linguistic style, the vocabulary, and the metaphors used in the writing of poetry. In the Western tradition, all these elements were thought of as properly different in poetry and prose up to the time of the… …   Wikipedia

  • diction — dictional, adj. dictionally, adv. /dik sheuhn/, n. 1. style of speaking or writing as dependent upon choice of words: good diction. 2. the accent, inflection, intonation, and speech sound quality manifested by an individual speaker, usually… …   Universalium

  • poetic license — license or liberty taken by a poet, prose writer, or other artist in deviating from rule, conventional form, logic, or fact, in order to produce a desired effect. [1780 90] * * * ▪ literature       the right assumed by poets to alter or invert… …   Universalium

  • Poetry — This article is about the art form. For other uses, see Poetry (disambiguation). Literature Major forms Novel · Poem · Drama Short story · Novella …   Wikipedia

  • English literature — Introduction       the body of written works produced in the English language by inhabitants of the British Isles (including Ireland) from the 7th century to the present day. The major literatures written in English outside the British Isles are… …   Universalium

  • Islamic arts — Visual, literary, and performing arts of the populations that adopted Islam from the 7th century. Islamic visual arts are decorative, colourful, and, in religious art, nonrepresentational; the characteristic Islamic decoration is the arabesque.… …   Universalium

  • HEBREW LITERATURE, MODERN — definition and scope beginnings periodization …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Owen Barfield — Born 9 November 1898 (1898 11 09) London Died 14 D …   Wikipedia

  • Japanese literature — Introduction       the body of written works produced by Japanese authors in Japanese or, in its earliest beginnings, at a time when Japan had no written language, in the Chinese classical language.       Both in quantity and quality, Japanese… …   Universalium

  • literature — /lit euhr euh cheuhr, choor , li treuh /, n. 1. writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays. 2.… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”