Poetry as a symptom of insanity

This is from my Forgotten English word-of-the-day calendar:

metromania: A species of insanity in which the patient evinces a rage for reciting poetry. From Greek metreon, metre, and mainomai, to be insane.

—Rev. John Boag’s Imperial Lexicon of the English Language, c. 1850

Maria

2 Comments

Filed under poetry

2 responses to “Poetry as a symptom of insanity

  1. thanks for the useful lexicon , something new for me.

  2. Walter

    I’m a poet, and didn’t know it.
    It, being that I am insane “in the membrane.”
    With a screw loose, a loco-motive with no caboose.
    Spewing words unheard by bird or nerd.
    Insane I be, for the poet in me.

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