Blazon

A blazon is a poem, or a passage within a poem, that praises a person by cataloguing their features one by one, often the beloved's body parts. Renaissance love poets used the form to compare eyes, hair, lips, hands, and other details to gems, flowers, light, or other admired things. The effect can be flattering, playful, exaggerated, or ironic.

Poetry which catalogues the virtues or attributes of women e.g. the tenth stanza of Spenser's Epithalamion.

Example

Her eyes were moonlit pools of glass,
Her hair a river turned to gold,
Her hands like petals brushed with frost,
Her voice a bell too soft to hold.

Related Definitions

[n] (heraldry) the official symbols of a family, state, etc.
[v] decorate with heraldic arms

Links

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