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The supernatural means by which the action of a poetic or fictitious work is carried on and brought to a catastrophe; in an extended sense, the contrivances by which the crises and conclusion of a fictitious narrative, in prose or verse, are effected. The machinery, madam, is a term invented by the critics, to signify…

Of or pertaining to the machinery of a poem; acting or used as a machine.[Obs.] Dryden.

A little amorous poem, sometimes called a pastoral poem, containing some tender and delicate, though simple, thought. Whose artful strains have oft delayed The huddling brook to hear his madrigal. Milton.

A celebrated epic poem of the Hindoos. It is of great length, and is chiefly devoted to the history of a civil war between two dynasties of ancient India.

To compose verses; to write poetry; to versify. [Archaic] Chaucer. Tennyson. To solace him some time, as I do when I make. P. Plowman. To make as if, or To make as though, to pretend that; to make show that; to make believe (see under Make, v. t.). Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled…

One who writes verses; a poet. [Obs.]

a poem.[Obs.] Sir J. Davies.

Malediction; curse; execration. [Poetic] God's malison on his head who this gainsays. Sir W. Scott.

house or other shelter. [Obs.] In my Father's house are many mansions. John xiv. 2. These poets near our princes sleep, And in one grave their mansions keep. Den

Border; margin; edge; verge. [Poetic] Tennyson. Along the river's stony marge. Wordsworth.

iterary style marked by the use of metaphors and antitheses characteristic of the Italian poet Giambattista Marini (1569-1625). -- Ma*ri"nist (#), n.

One of a class of poets which flourished in Nuremberg and some other cities of Germany in the 15th and 16th centuries. They bound themselves to observe certain arbitrary laws of rhythm.

ake equal, proportionate, or suitable; to adapt, fit, or suit (one thing to another). Let poets match their subject to their strength. Roscommon.

-- chiefly in the phrases what matter no matter, and the like. A prophet some, and some a poet, cry; No matter which, so neither of them lie. Dryden.

ental; weak and silly. "Maudlin eyes." Dryden. "Maudlin eloquence." Roscommon. "A maudlin poetess." Pope. "Maudlin crowd." Southey.

; of but a moderate or low degree of excellence; indifferent; ordinary. " A very mediocre poet." Pope.

A Latin god of commerce and gain; -- treated by the poets as identical with the Greek Hermes, messenger of the gods, conductor of souls to the lower world, and god of eloquence.

It seems to me. [Poetic]

A German epic poem on the Messiah, by Klopstock.

Rhythmical arrangement of syllables or words into verses, stanzas, strophes, etc.; poetical measure, depending on number, quantity, and accent of syllables; rhythm; measure; verse; also, any specific rhythmical arrangements; as, the Horatian meters; a dactylic meter. The only strict antithesis to prose is meter. Wordsw…