poetaster
Hack with stanzas
A poetaster is a writer of inferior verse—someone who aspires to be a poet but lacks the talent.
The word carries contempt, suggesting pretension without skill: The literary magazines were full of poetasters imitating Eliot.
It's a put-down reserved for those who take their bad poetry seriously.
Shortcut or breach
- rhymesterAmateur verse writer
- versifierOne composing metrical lines
- dilettanteSuperficial pursuer of arts
- pretenderIllegitimate claimant to power
scribbler · dabbler · wannabe · poseur · charlatan · fraud · incompetent · laughingstock
Metered poetic passage
- rhymeMatching terminal sounds
- meterDevice that measures usage
- sonnetFourteen-line metered poem
- coupletTwo successive verse lines
stanza · ode · ballad · elegy · limerick · doggerel · jingle · ditty
One traveling afoot
- mundaneCommonplace, lacking excitement
- banalUnoriginal and dull
- prosaicLacking imagination or excitement
- ploddingMoving slowly, heavily
dull · forgettable · second-rate · subpar · mediocre · average · commonplace · inelegant
One who mimics another
- imitatorOne who copies others
- pasticheImitative artistic tribute
- derivativeFunction's rate of change
- echoReflected sound wave
mimicry · emulation · plagiarist · unoriginal · formulaic · clichéd · borrowed · secondhand
hack
Shortcut or breach
- rhymesterAmateur verse writer
- versifierOne composing metrical lines
- dilettanteSuperficial pursuer of arts
pretender · scribbler · dabbler · wannabe · poseur · charlatan · fraud · incompetent · laughingstock · mockery
verse
Metered poetic passage
couplet · stanza · ode · ballad · elegy · limerick · doggerel · jingle · ditty · quatrain
pedestrian
One traveling afoot
- mundaneCommonplace, lacking excitement
- banalUnoriginal and dull
- prosaicLacking imagination or excitement
plodding · dull · forgettable · second-rate · subpar · mediocre · average · commonplace · inelegant · clumsy
copycat
One who mimics another
- imitatorOne who copies others
- pasticheImitative artistic tribute
- derivativeFunction's rate of change
echo · mimicry · emulation · plagiarist · unoriginal · formulaic · clichéd · borrowed · secondhand · recycled
- poetsHomer, Dante, Milton, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost