poetastery means inferior poetry. It carries an Arena rating of 1327, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, poetastery ranks #2,424 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #2,774 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #4,012 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #5,784 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words.
Why “poetastery” is a great word
The production of pretentious, inept, or contemptibly bad verse. From poetaster (an inferior poet, from Medieval Latin poeta, from Latin poēta, 'poet,' and the pejorative suffix -aster) + the noun-forming suffix -y. Unlike 'doggerel,' which carries a whiff of comic, deliberate crudity, or the neutral 'verse,' poetastery implies a graver sin: the earnest, flailing ambition to be profound. It is the scent of moldering lilacs in a poorly ventilated salon, the tinny echo of a cracked bell straining for grandeur, the cloying aftertaste of saccharine left to crust in a porcelain cup—the melancholy spectacle of aspiration permanently outstripping its gifts.
Etymology
From poetaster + -y.
noun
- Inferior poetry.e.g.“As Poetry is totally distinct from Poetastery, so is Criticism not to be confounded with Criticastricism.” — 1860, The London Review and Weekly Journal of Politics, Literature, Art, and Society, Vol. 1, p. 129 (Google preview)
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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