juvenilia
Definition
Noun (plural, used with a plural verb or sometimes treated as a singular mass noun): - Early works of an author or artist: "juvenilia" refers to the literary, artistic, or musical works produced by a creator during their youth, typically before they achieved maturity or recognition.
Usage Examples
- (Early, unpublished writings from the author's youth.)
- (The early, formative works of a painter or sculptor.)
- (The youthful works of a writer or composer.)
Advanced Usage
"to dismiss as juvenilia": to regard something as immature or unimportant because it was created early in life.
- The critic dismissed the early poems as mere juvenilia, not worth serious analysis. (To treat as trivial due to the creator's youth.)
"to preserve juvenilia": to keep and document the early works of a creator for historical or educational purposes.
- The archive preserves the juvenilia of many 19th-century authors. (To maintain early creative outputs.)
Variants and Related Words
- Juvenile (adj): relating to young people; immature.
- The juvenile behavior of the audience disrupted the lecture. (Childish or youthful conduct.)
- Juvenility (n): the state or quality of being young or immature.
- The juvenility of his early paintings is evident in their simple subjects. (The condition of being youthful.)
Synonyms
- Early works: creations from the beginning of a career.
- Youthful productions: items made during one's younger years.
- Apprentice pieces: works done while learning a craft.
Related Idioms
- In one's salad days: during one's youth or early career (often used metaphorically for juvenilia).
- These poems were written in his salad days, long before he won fame. (During his youthful period.)
Phrasal Verbs
- Write off as juvenilia: to dismiss something as an early, unimportant work.
- The editor wrote off the author's first novel as juvenilia. (To reject or disregard as immature.)