Make Your Point > Archived Issues > POEISH

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pronounce POEISH: Say it "PO ish." To hear it, click here. connect this word to others: Let's add the word Poeish to our list of words from authors' names: Seussian, Dahlesque, and Kafkaesque. How would you arrange those four on a scale from "lighthearted" to "disturbing"?  definition: Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) wrote all kinds of dark, creepy, morbid, gothic horror poems and stories, like "The Raven" (about a dark mysterious bird speaking to a grieving man who slowly goes mad), "The Tell-Tale Heart" (about a madman murdering an innocent old man for having a creepy-looking blue eye), and "The Premature Burial" (about being buried alive). Here's an illustration from his story "A Cask of Amontillado," about a guy getting revenge for petty grievances by burying the offender alive in a catacomb. Since about 1882, we've used the words "Poe-like" and "Poe-esque" to describe things that remind us of Poe's writings. "Poe-like" and "Poe-esque" look and sound a bit weird, which is probably why the nicer word "Poeish" came along around 1914. You can use any of those terms, but I recommend "Poeish." To sum that up, call something Poeish if it's so dark, spooky, morbid, or gothic that it reminds you of stories by Edgar Allan Poe. You might also call something Poeish if it reminds you of the heavy, wordy, formal, even pompous way that he wrote. For example, in his story "The Black Cat," instead of writing "The love of a loyal pet really touches you, and it makes the love of a friend pale in comparison," Poe wrote "There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man." grammatical bits: Part of speech: Adjective, the proper kind, so you always capitalize it: "a Poeish nightmare;" "Her stories are Poeish." Other forms:  Sometimes you'll see writers hyphenate this word: "Poe-ish." The adverb is "Poeishly." If you need a noun, feel free to use "Poeishness." Some people do. You won't find it in dictionaries, but don't ever let that stop you! how to use it: Pick the rare, scholarly word "Poeish" to describe something grim, ghoulish, morbid, or riddled with madness and/or despair. You might talk about Poeish scenes, characters, stories, plots, books, and movies; a Poeish mood, tone, or atmosphere; a Poeish madness, a Poeish obsession with fear or death, etc. examples: "Homer Simpson is the 'Poeish' character who experiences the episode."    — Miriam Helga Auer, Poetry in Motion and Emotion (dissertation), December 2014 "When you read [the stories] back to back you get an eerie sense of beauty as well as the lovingly crafted characters that inhabit this world... There is a bonus title at the end that demonstrates an almost Poeish twist."      — Falcata Times, quoted on MarianneDePierres.com, undated    has this page helped you understand "Poeish"? Awesome, I'm glad it helped! Thanks for letting me know! If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. study it: Explain the meaning of "Poeish" without saying "macabre" or "filled with gory revenge." try it out: Check out these snippets from Hozier's song "In a Week:"    "I have never known hunger like these insects that feast on me...    We'll lay here for years or for hours    Thrown here or found, to freeze or to thaw...    And they'd find us in a week    When the buzzards get loud...    After the raven has had his say    I'd be home with you, I'd be home with you." Talk about whether you like or dislike all that Poeish imagery. If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.) before you review, play: Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out. Our game for this month is "Provocative Verbs." Check out the headline below. Originally, it included some highly emotional verb, like "bushwhack," "agonize," or "soar." But I've swapped it out for an emotionless one. Try to restore the strong feelings that the headline originally evoked by choosing your own highly emotional verb to swap back in. For example, instead of "St. Jude Keeps Billions While Many of Its Families Use Their Savings," you might come up with "St. Jude Hoards Billions While Many of Its Families Drain Their Savings," the original provocative headline from ProPublica.  Scroll all the way down to see the original headline. You might think of the same verbs as the original writers did, or yours might be even spicier.  Try this last one today: From the Washington Post: "I'm 83. If you put a child's party hat on my head, I'm going to hurt you." review this word: 1. The opposite of POEISH is A. SUNNY. B. RHYTHMIC. C. EMBELLISHED. 2. In context, the word "Poeishly" is most likely to follow the word "_____." A. dazzling B. brooding C. jesting Answers to the review questions: 1. A 2. B From the game, the original headline: "I'm 83. If you put a child's party hat on my head, I'm going to clobber you." a final word: I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.