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poetic

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poetic justice

appropriate, ideal, or ironic punishment. It was poetic justice that Jane won the race after Mary tried to get her banned from the race. The car thieves tried to steal a car with no gas. That's poetic justice.

See also: justice, poetic

poetic license

liberties or license of the type taken by artists, especially poets, to violate patterns of rhyme, harmony, structure, etc. I couldn't tell whether he kept making spelling mistakes or if it was just poetic license.

See also: license, poetic

wax poetic

Fig. to speak poetically. I hope you will pardon me if I wax poetic for a moment when I say that your lovely hands drift across the piano keys like swans on a lake.

See also: poetic, wax

poetic justice

if something that happens is poetic justice, someone who has done something bad is made to suffer in a way that seems fair There is a kind of poetic justice in the fact that the country responsible for the worst ecological disaster this century is the one suffering most from its effects.

See also: justice, poetic

poetic license

the way in which writers and other artists are allowed to ignore rules or change facts in their work It's obvious the writer was using a certain amount of poetic licence because the route she mentions has been closed for 50 years.

See also: license, poetic

poetic justice

An outcome in which virtue is rewarded and evil punished, often in an especially appropriate or ironic manner. For example, It was poetic justice for the known thief to go to jail for the one crime he didn't commit . [Early 1700s]

See also: justice, poetic

poetic license

Also, artistic license. The liberty taken by a writer or artist in deviating from conventional form or fact to achieve an effect. For example, I've never seen grass or a tree of that color; but that's artistic license. [Late 1700s]

See also: license, poetic