Okay so you’ve got your murder of crows, your gang of elk and your drunkship of cobblers but the question for today is: what’s the collective noun for a group of poets? I personally like the sound of a ‘ward’ of poets but perhaps that’s going a bit far. Any suggestions?

39 [Archived] Responses to ‘A collective noun for poets?’

Ivy says: June 21st, 2003 at 6:05 am
What about ‘a madness of poets’?

nick whittock says: June 26th, 2003 at 12:27 pm
squad

Jacob King says: June 26th, 2003 at 6:44 pm
How about a ‘parody of poets’

nick whittock says: July 3rd, 2003 at 3:02 pm
eleven. regardless of number of course, an eleven of poets

Jen says: July 14th, 2003 at 2:03 pm
bunk

Andy says: August 4th, 2003 at 4:05 pm
A Prodigy of poets
A Placebo of poets
A Passion of poets
A Peril of poets
A Page of poets

Ivy says: August 8th, 2003 at 3:51 am
An ego of poets?

Anonymous says: September 4th, 2003 at 7:28 pm
peppering

Terry Lee says: September 7th, 2003 at 4:40 pm
Perhaps, a ‘spray’ of Poets?
or
a ‘havoc’ of Poets?

adrian says: September 21st, 2003 at 9:31 pm
A ‘preamble’ of poets.

Ivy says: September 21st, 2003 at 10:04 pm
A [pentameter / sonnet / scansion] of poets

Martin Downey says: September 22nd, 2003 at 2:15 pm
a Revolution of Poets – definately.

rob walker says: September 22nd, 2003 at 7:27 pm
a paranoia of poets?

(you DID erase my personal info, didn’t you..?)

MartinDowney says: September 26th, 2003 at 11:33 am
a ‘deign’ of poets

adrian says: October 7th, 2003 at 2:27 pm
A Moet of poets.

Ivy says: October 8th, 2003 at 4:26 am
‘A Moet of poets.’ Ooh, I like that one. Though there might be some sort of trade infringement going on. What about ‘a sparkling wine of poets’?

Richard Watts says: October 9th, 2003 at 1:45 pm
This is a question I have considered long and often, in the same way that I have wondered about the correct group noun for goths. As far as the latter is concerned, I feel ‘a gloom’?, ‘an angst’? or ‘a mope’? of goths should suffice. My suggestion for poets is much more simple. ‘A rejection of poets’ is the only sensible possibility, although my erstwhile co-editor Kelly Chandler suggests ‘a sulk’? or ‘a clutter’?.

kylie brusaschi says: November 22nd, 2003 at 5:27 pm
a chunk of poets
a glob of poets
a carton of poets

Ben Lomond says: November 26th, 2003 at 8:32 pm
How about a folio?

michael farrell says: November 28th, 2003 at 8:34 am
a poe
a ratbag
an envy
a metamorphosis
an odyssey/iliad
a lost paradise
a season
a bush
a line
a break
a suggestion
a segue
a frisk
a stanza
a survival
an island

mf says: December 2nd, 2003 at 11:21 am
a murmur of poets

amy rhodes says: December 3rd, 2003 at 1:19 pm
well it’s a ‘worship of writers’ which keeps it fairly clean, so what about a ‘posse’ of poets or ‘a darkened room’, an ‘angst’, or a ‘revenge’ of poets?

kylie brusaschi says: December 3rd, 2003 at 4:38 pm
posse of poets is funny
i like that

julian says: December 6th, 2003 at 1:36 pm
a ‘possibility’ of poets

Ivy says: December 8th, 2003 at 10:51 pm
A matrix of poets
(Ooh, trendy! And possibly stolen! Sorry ’bout that.)

Anonymous says: December 10th, 2003 at 1:10 pm
Like mf’s murmur of poets but think maybe a
scream of poets suits some more aptly. I like to think a company of poets stands on firmish ground!

adrian says: December 11th, 2003 at 8:47 pm
A rejection of poets.
This at least is something we can all relate to.

komninos says: December 11th, 2003 at 11:45 pm

i don’t know who said this first, but i heard it and remembered it.
any more than one poet would have to be an ‘excess’ of poets

womble says: December 16th, 2003 at 3:50 pm
some might say that is generous. i’d pick a plonk or plunk of poets.

greg mclaren says: December 16th, 2003 at 5:04 pm
a pun of poets? ahem? or a doddle: ‘there’s poets comin over the hil, sarge. looks like a whole doddle of ‘em!’. for example.

Martin Downey says: December 22nd, 2003 at 12:45 pm
The way things are going, I’d say
‘a whimper’ would be a fair comment – eh?

David Prater says: December 22nd, 2003 at 12:49 pm
A Cordite of Poets.

Michael McClintock says: December 24th, 2003 at 11:28 am
a shitpail
a wipe
a smell
a pain
a silence
a nothing

ken jones says: December 29th, 2003 at 6:36 pm
Perhaps A Breakfast of Poets, A Recitation of Poets A Rhyme of Poets or A Prattling of Poets.

adam ford says: January 3rd, 2004 at 11:18 pm

what about ‘some poets’?
just a thought

Melinda Smith says: January 10th, 2004 at 4:12 pm
I am currently trapped inside a group of poets (at a residential poetry workshop) and wrote the following poem yesterday as a joke. Then someone told me about this discussion thread, so I thought I would post it here. I note some of my nouns overlap with previous suggestions but this just proves that great poets think alike?

A group of poets: the collective noun

A frenzy of poets
A rapture of poets
A draft of poets
A concentration of poets
A mull of poets
A fiddle of poets
A line of poets
An anthology of poets
A smattering of poets
A broadcast of poets
A lexicon of poets
A stanza of poets
A school of poets
An order of poets
A stable of poets
A faction of poets
A pride of poets
A herd of poets
A battle of poets
A bed of poets
A muddle of poets
A gabble of poets
A chorus of poets
A catcall of poets
A sozzle of poets
An oxymoron

Michael Riley: January 15th, 2004 at 1:00 pm
what about an ‘arrogence of poets’? or a ‘ford of poets’?

Frank: January 17th, 2004 at 11:29 pm
Thanks for sharing this post!

Michael Riley: January 28th, 2004 at 11:15 pm
no, thank you!