portentousness

For the elements of Gauguin's mystique are apparent enough: a portentousness of pose or motif, a figure catching one's eye with a look of grave interrogation, a woman foursquare and impassive as an oceanic statue.

Gauguin: Maker of Myth Laura Cumming 2010

A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain-a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fi xed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and daemons of unplumbed space.

A Different Stripe: 2009

A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain-a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fi xed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and daemons of unplumbed space.

Authors and others 2010

Over a long career, she has perhaps too easily found much to despair of both in her own country and abroad—and her portentousness can be tiresome.

A Mother's Love And Laments 2011

A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint, expressed with a seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain-a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fi xed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and daemons of unplumbed space.

Weird birthday wishes to H.P. Lovecraft and a musical interlude 2009

I was walking around the kitchen all last night going "Hypsizygus tessellatus!" with great portentousness and magnificent gesticulations.

like falling stars through the universe we are hurled thecoughlin 2010

The problem is that the show is strewn with an unironic, overwrought sense of portentousness and constant, blunt hints that the town is Not What It Seems.

TV preview: Hank Stuever previews 'Happy Town' 2010

You'll find lots of this made-up capitalized stuff in current American poetry -- an easy way to import portentousness when the material is flimsy to the point of nonexistence.

Anis Shivani: David Lehman's Incestuous Coterie: Why the New 'Best American Poetry' Sucks Even More Than Its Twenty-One Predecessors 2010

You'll find lots of this made-up capitalized stuff in current American poetry -- an easy way to import portentousness when the material is flimsy to the point of nonexistence.

Anis Shivani: David Lehman's Incestuous Coterie: Why the New "Best American Poetry" Sucks Even More Than Its Twenty-One Predecessors 2010

The problem is that the show is strewn with an unironic, overwrought sense of portentousness and constant, blunt hints that the town is Not What It Seems.

TV preview: Hank Stuever previews 'Happy Town' 2010