proem

[ proh-em ]

noun

1. an introductory discourse; introduction; preface; preamble.

proem

/ ˈprəʊɛm; prəʊˈiːmɪəl /

noun

1. an introduction or preface, such as to a work of literature

Derived Forms

• proemial, adjective

Other Words From

• pro·e·mi·al [proh-, ee, -mee-, uh, l, -, em, -ee-], adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of proem¹

1350–1400; < Latin prooemium < Greek prooímion prelude ( pro- pro- ² + oím ( ē ) song + -ion diminutive suffix); replacing Middle English proheme < Middle French < Latin, as above

Word History and Origins

Origin of proem¹

C14: from Latin prooemium introduction, from Greek prooimion, from pro- ² + hoimē song

Example Sentences

David Ferry more than succeeds in capturing the stateliness, as his rendering of the Proem, the epic’s introductory lines, into English blank verse shows:

From The New Yorker

Take the last line of the Proem, with its climactic vision of what Ferry renders as “The lofty walls of Rome.”

From The New Yorker

The proem, as the first few lines of an epic are known, establishes the backstory: our polytropos hero has been delayed on his return “after sacking the holy citadel of Troy”; having “wandered widely,” he has been detained by the amorous nymph Calypso, who wants to marry him despite his determination to get back to his wife, Penelope; all the men he took with him to fight in the Trojan War have perished, some through foolish misadventures on the journey home.

From The New Yorker

After a moment or two, I said, “Well, some died in the war, and, if you read the proem carefully, you’ll recall that others died ‘through their own recklessness.’

From The New Yorker

In the Proem to the first general collection of his poems, he wrote: Of mystic beauty, dreamy grace, No rounded art the lack supplies; Unskilled the subtle line to trace, Or softer shades of Nature's face, I view her common forms with unanointed eyes.

From Project Gutenberg