Meaning of Undersong | Babel Free

Definitions

1. An accompanying sound or strain; an accompaniment.
2. Subordinate and underlying idea, meaning or atmosphere; undertone.
   figuratively
3. The burden of a song; the chorus; the refrain.
   obsolete

Equivalents

Examples

“Accept⟳ the Off'ring I at diſtance bring⟳, / With Harp ill-tun'd, and long thro' Age unſtrung, / Fit only to fill⟳ up ſome Under-ſong!”

“But th’ unceasing rill To the soft Wren or Lark’s descending trill Murmurs sweet undersong mid jasmin bowers.”

“To sit⟳ without emotion, hope⟳, or aim, / By my half-kitchen my half-parlour fire, / And listen⟳ to the flapping of the flame, / Or kettle, whispering it's faint undersong.”

“1926, C. S. Lewis (as Clive Hamilton), Dymer, Canto 4, stanza 1,in Walter Hooper (ed.) Narrative Poems, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979, p. 36, Then the rain⟳; Twelve miles of downward water like⟳ one dart, And in one leap⟳ were launched along the plain, To break⟳ the budding flower and flood⟳ the grain, And keep⟳ with dripping sound⟳ an undersong Amid the wheeling thunder all night long.”

“Defective however and faulty must be the composition in prose, which you and I with all our study⟳ and attention cannot understand⟳. In poetry it is not exactly so: the greater part of it must be intelligible to all: but in the very best there is often an undersong of sense⟳, which none beside the poetical mind⟳, or one deeply versed in its mysteries, can comprehend.”

“1916, John Cowper Powys, “Oscar Wilde” in Suspended Judgments, New York: G. Arnold Shaw, p. 410, The mad smouldering lust which gives a sort⟳ of under-song of surging passion to the sophisticated sensuality of “Salome” …”

“Here we see⟳ this most reticent and mannerly of poets [i.e. Elizabeth Bishop] being compelled by the undeniable impetus of her art to break⟳ with her usual inclination to conciliate the social audience. [...] she usually limited herself to a note⟳ that would not have⟳ disturbed the discreet undersong of conversation between strangers breakfasting at a seaside hotel.”

“Even if Boswell had never written the Life, we would remember⟳ Johnson’s personality, which is the undersong of everything he wrote and said.”

“It is not hard to observe⟳ that David’s Allelujahs are more then his Hosannas; his thanks more then his suits. Oft-times doth he praise⟳ God when be begs nothing: seldome ever doth he beg⟳ that favour for which he doth not raise⟳ up his Soul to an anticipation of Thanks: neither is this any other then the universal under-song of all his Heavenly Ditties [...]”

“The Challenge⟳ to Damætas ſhall belong⟳ / Menalcas ſhall ſuſtain his under Song: / Each in his turn⟳ your tuneful numbers bring⟳; / In turns the tuneful Muſes love⟳ to ſing.”

CEFR level