Poetic expressions

Question

I need poetic or epic-style equivalents for the following:
to help ("To extend a helping hand" seems too formalistic to me, and I have not ever come across any idioms with the similar meaning);
to dislike;
to value ("To hold in great honour"? Any other suggestions?);
to make a mistake;
to fail one's expectations;
to take occasion;
a daydream (And what if a person is having a daydream at night?);
to fall a victim to smth;
to become angry.

Thank you kindly in advance.

Greetings from Russia,
Damiana

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi Damiana,

Welcome to the Forum.

I need poetic or epic-style I'm no sure what you mean by 'epic-stye' equivalents for the following:
This is not an easy request. Poetry calls for the original and unusual, not just a synonym.

to help ("To extend a helping hand" seems too formalistic to me, and I have not ever come across any idioms with the similar meaning); to lighten someone's burden

to dislike; to turn your countenance away from
to value ("To hold in great honour"? Any other suggestions?); to cherish
to make a mistake; to err. to fail. to fall.
to fail one's expectations; (not exactly sure what you mean) to disappoint. To fail
to take occasion; (don't know what you mean) to seize the moment?
a daydream a lyrical transport (And what if a person is having a daydream at night?); a nightmare
to fall a victim to smth; to be felled by something. To run afoul of
to become angry. to be filled with wrath. to be consumed by an all-encompassing fury that shakes the essence of your soul . . .

Now I remember why I don't write poetry.

Best wishes, Clive

Damiana · Answer

Thank you, Clive.

"I'm no sure what you mean by 'epic-stye'"
Actually I was keeping "The Kalevala" in mind: abundant epithets and metaphors, etc.

"This is not an easy request. Poetry calls for the original and unusual, not just a synonym."
And that is exactly what I am looking for.

"to make a mistake; to err. to fail. to fall"
Is "to take a wrong step" all right?

"to fail one's expectations; (not exactly sure what you mean)"
Yes, to dissapoint. Does "to fail one's expectations" sound odd to a native speaker? How would you paraphrase that to make the meaning more clear?

Clive · Answer

Hi again,

"This is not an easy request. Poetry calls for the original and unusual, not just a synonym."
And that is exactly what I am looking for. Yes, and that's why it's not easy. If I had that kind of mind, I'd use my great ideas in my own poems! (ha-ha)

"to make a mistake; to err. to fail. to fall"
Is "to take a wrong step" all right? Yes, but it's not very original or poetic.

"to fail one's expectations; (not exactly sure what you mean)"
Yes, to disapoint. Does "to fail one's expectations" sound odd to a native speaker? No, it's OK. How would you paraphrase that to make the meaning more clear? To show me you are not the person I thought you were. To show your human failings.

Best wishes again, Clive

Marius Hancu · Answer

Well, I'm not sure if you're interested in famous quotations including the words in question.

If you are, I'd suggest to make searches at Yahoo with say:

daydreaming quotations
(daydreaming could be replaced by other words of your choice)

and you'll find pages which refer, directly or indirectly, to daydreaming, such as:

http://www.quotegarden.com/daydream.html

However, you'll need to be quite selective in what Yahoo digs up for you.

Damiana · Answer

Thank you so mush. I've found such synonyms for "daydreaming" as "to be lost in reveries" and "to have one's mind wandering". Generally I use Google to make sure if a certain expression exists in English, for the word-for-word translation of Russian idioms, colloquialisms and metaphors of my own can be really tricky: when I come up with something colorful, the English equivalent may appear completely nonsensical. But those quotation resources are a gold-mine indeed. Now, the objective is not to plagiarize =) I’ll try to be creative, thus using what I’ve found as samples and patterns only.

Anonymous · Answer

Greetings, Damiana,

You wrote your questions a long time ago, but I found them just tonight. If you still want ideas, I would like to share some suggestions. I teach English as a second language in the U.S.

Sincerely,
Betsy

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