Poetomachia

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proper noun

A controversy in later Elizabethan theater, involving a number of playwrights satirizing each other with their plays, in a period when verse and prose satire was banned due to the Bishops' Ban of 1599.

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Meanings

proper nounthe Poetomachia
  1. historicalA controversy in later Elizabethan theater, involving a number of playwrights satirizing each other with their plays, in a period when verse and prose satire was banned due to the Bishops' Ban of 1599.

Origin

Coined by Thomas Dekker. See poet and μάχη (mákhē, “battle”).

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Cite this entry
APA

Poetomachia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Poetomachia

MLA

“Poetomachia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Poetomachia. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Poetomachia,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Poetomachia.

Source: Poetomachia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.