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afflatus

  (ə-flā'təs) pronunciation
n.

A strong creative impulse, especially as a result of divine inspiration.

[Latin afflātus, from past participle of afflāre, to breathe on : ad-, ad- + flāre, to blow.]


 
 
Thesaurus: afflatus

noun

    Divine guidance and motivation imparted directly: inspiration. See religion.

 

afflatus, a Latin term for poetic inspiration.

 
Obscure Words: afflatus


a creative impulse, an inspiration
 
Poetry Glossary: Afflatus

A creative inspiration, as that of a poet; a divine imparting of knowledge, thus it is often called divine afflatus.

 
Word Tutor: afflatus
pronunciation

IN BRIEF: n. - A strong creative impulse.

Tutor's tip: This word was used in the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee finals.

 
Wikipedia: afflatus

Afflatus is a Latin term derived from Cicero (in On Divination) that has been translated as "inspiration." Cicero's usage was a literalizing of "inspiration," which had already become figurative. Literally, "inspiration," like "afflatus," means "to be blown into" by a divine wind. As "inspiration" came to mean simply the gathering of a new idea, Cicero reiterated the idea of a rush of unexpected breath, a powerful force that would render the poet helpless and unaware of its origin.

In English, "afflatus" is used for this literal form of inspiration. It generally refers not to the usual sudden originality, but to the staggering and stunning blow of a new idea, an idea that the recipient may be unable to explain. In Romantic literature and criticism, in particular, the usage of "afflatus" was revived for the mystical form of poetic inspiration tied to "genius", such as the story Coleridge offered for the composition of Kubla Khan. The frequent usage of the Aeolian harp as a symbol for the poet was a play on the renewed emphasis on afflatus.

References

  • Brogan, T.V.F. "Inspiration" in Alex Preminger and T.V.F. Brogan, eds., The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1993. 609.

 
 

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Literary Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Copyright © Chris Baldick 2001, 2004. All rights reserved.  Read more
Obscure Words. © 2008 by Michael A. Fischer http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd Read more
Poetry Glossary. Copyright © 2007, ILOVEPOETRY, Inc, All Rights Reserved.  Read more
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Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Afflatus" Read more

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