Search the Dictionary

The art of composing poems; poetical skill or faculty; as, the heavenly gift of poesy. Shak.

The firmament; the sky. [Poetic] Shoots against the dusky pole. Milton.

The Muse of lyric poetry.

P. Sidney. In most strange postures We have seen him set himself. Shak. The posture of a poetic figure is a description of his heroes in the performance of such or such an action. Dryden.

A brief poetical sentiment; hence, any brief sentiment, motto, or legend; especially, one inscribed on a ring. "The posy of a ring." Shak.

nd circumstances; -- said of literature. "Pragmatic history." Sir W. Hamilton. "Pragmatic poetry." M. Arnold. Pragmatic sanction, a solemn ordinance or decree issued by the head or legislature of a state upon weighty matters; -- a term derived from the Byzantine empire. In European history, two decrees under this name…

Talk to little purpose; trifling talk; unmeaning loquacity. Sick of tops, and poetry, and prate. Pope.

ve the critics on either side to contend about the preference due to this or that sort of poetry. Dryden. Knowledge of things alone gives a value to our reasonings, and preference of one man's knowledge over another's. Locke.

a gift upon; to favor, as with a donation; also, to court by gifts. Octavia presented the poet for him admirable elegy on her son Marcellus. Dryden.

Early; blooming; being in the first stage. [Poetic] His starry helm, unbuckled, showed him prime In manhood where youth ended. Milton.

The son of Iapetus (one of the Titans) and Clymene, fabled by the poets to have surpassed all mankind in knowledge, and to have formed men of clay to whom he gave life by means of fire stolen from heaven. Jupiter, being angry at this, sent Mercury to bind Prometheus to Mount Caucasus, where a vulture preyed upon his li…

e mind or affections, usually in an ill sense. Followed by to. "Prone to mischief." Shak. Poets are nearly all prone to melancholy. Landor.

The prow or fore part of a ship. [Poetic] "Galleys with vermilion prores." Pope.

Of or pertaining to prose; resembling prose; in the form of prose; unpoetical; writing or using prose; as, a prosaic composition. Cudworth.

A writer of prose; an unpoetical writer. "An estimable prosaist." I. Taylor.

The ordinary language of men in speaking or writing; language not cast in poetical measure or rhythm; -- contradistinguished from verse, or metrical composition. I speak in prose, and let him rymes make. Chaucer. Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. Milton. I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely de…

e, enterprise, conflict, or the like. Shakespeare, the protagonist on the great of modern poetry. De Quincey.

To make death in us live. Milton. Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust Gray. To the poet the meaning is what he pleases to make it, what it provokes in his own soul. J. Burroughs.

r demands the exercise of, discretion or prudence; -- usually in the pl. Many stanzas, in poetic measures, contain rules relating to common prudentials as well as to religion. I. Watts.

A sacred song; a poetical composition for use in the praise or worship of God. Humus devout and holy psalms Singing everlastingly. Milton.