An Ascension of Larks and Other Collective Nouns You Need

Hello, esteemed reader. Are you looking for a little inspiration today? Well, turn around and walk away, because this post has BUCKETS of inspiration. After you're done reading this, you'll be compelled to pick up the pen and make sweet love to the page. (Meant in the most PG way possible.)

The source of your endless well of inspiration? Two words.

Collective Nouns.

Have you ever heard of an aerie of eagles? A clew of worms? A congress of baboons? No? How about....a coven of witches? (Easy.) A drift of swans? (Oooh.) A nosegay of flowers? (Huh.) A flourish of strumpets? (Wait, WHAT?) 

In case you didn't catch my drift, those are all collective nouns. And in case you missed it, apparently a group of strumpets has a collective noun. Bonus: whores have one, too: "a miller of whores". I don't know, man. 

Since there are apparently collective nouns for juuuuust about everything out there, I curated a list of my top ten favorites, and then some honorable mentions for good fun. I've also included links at the bottom where you can find even more to inspire your writing practice. Ready? Let's go.

Greatest Hits

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Honorable Mentions

11. A bellowing of bullfinches.

12. A baleful of martyrs. 

13. A rhumba of rattlesnakes.

14. A blessing of unicorns.

15. A neverthriving of jugglers.

16. A smack of jellyfish. 

17. A cry of hounds.

18. A fixie of hipsters. 

19. A charm of hummingbirds.

20. An erst of bees.

BONUS: A holiness of donuts. (Get it?!)

The Prompt

Choice A: Write a poem using one of these collective nouns.

Choice B: Write an acrostic poem using one of these collective nouns. Read more on that here.

Still Thirsty?

Have a tall glass of water. And then check out these lists:

1. Wikipedia - Glossary of Collective Nouns

2. Electric Literature - Supernatural Collective Nouns