Elevated, formal vocabulary typically employing Latinate terms, abstract concepts, and ceremonial language rather than colloquial, concrete, or Germanic words. High diction creates appropriate tone for serious, elevated subjects like death, heroism, or philosophical meditation, establishing distance and dignity through word choice, and was particularly characteristic of epic, ode, and formal elegy traditions before modernist movements championed more conversational, accessible registers in poetry.

Creates formal tone through vocabulary choice. Uses Latinate rather than Germanic words, abstract rather than concrete terms. Common in epic and ceremonial poetry.