Today we’ll be talking about poetic and literary words, which are words that are hardly ever used in everyday language but you can find them in literature. Some of these words are also used to sound more formal, humorous or sophisticated. Don’t overuse them, but it’s worth knowing them. Here we’re only going to have a look at a small selection.
If you want to watch a video first, here it is:
So, for each of the literary words described below you can see its more popular synonym, which is the one that will much more frequently be used in everyday language. There’s also a sentence that illustrates how the poetic word may be used.
to imbibe = to drink
The young lady imbibed vast quantities of tea.
toil = hard work
After years of toil and sweat he finally managed to gather a little sum of money for the trip of his dream.
swift = fast
The swift river current carried her body for miles until it finally was eaten by a crocodile.
demise = death
The traveler met his demise in the middle of the desert.
attire = clothes
The princess always wore her best royal attire, even when she walked through the fields and meadows.
tidings = news
We had all heard the good tidings – the epidemic was over. You could read about it in each and every newspaper those days.
fare = food
They had the best fare they could have imagined as vegetarians.
scribe = writer
The scribe spent half his life copying and translating holy manuscripts and he’s also the author of quite a few himself.
hale = healthy
At the age of 80 my grandfather decided to go to university. He’s still active in sports. He’s a hale and hearty old man.
betwixt = between
Suddenly he looked right betwixt the Medusa’s eyes and was turned to stone.
penurious = poor
The penurious fishermen were facing starvation that year. Something in the water had killed most of the fish.
slumber = sleep
And after that they all fell into deep slumber which was to last for a very long time.
thoroughfare = road
The thoroughfare was not very safe back then, so we decided not to travel by night.
to converse = to talk
They found a place where they could converse quietly, far away from the crowds.