Afflatus
Afflatus is a sudden feeling of creative inspiration, especially the kind a poet imagines as coming from a higher or divine source. It suggests a force that seems to breathe a poem into being rather than a carefully planned effort.
The word is often used in literary criticism or older poetic writing to describe an intense, almost mystical burst of imagination.
Example
A hush passed through the room, and then the poet wrote:
From the lamp's thin flame,
words rose like smoke to the ceiling
and returned as song.
Related Definitions
[n] a strong creative impulse; divine inspiration; "divine afflatus"
Related Terms
animating spirit, animation, animus, apocalypse, Apollo, Apollo Musagetes, Bragi, Calliope, Castilian Spring, creative imagination, creative thought, creativity, daemon, daimonion, demon, direct communication, divine afflatus, divine inspiration, divine r