plural in form but singular or plural in construction
1
a
: a treatise on poetry or aesthetics
b
or less commonly poetic : poetic theory or practice
also : a particular theory of poetry or sometimes other literary forms
a feminist poetics
2
: poetic feelings or utterances

Examples of poetics in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Such would-be scientific treatises in fact functioned more like manifestos, and decisively influenced Eliot and Ezra Pound’s generation to favor a poetics of the objective sensuous image over one of the dramatic declamatory mood. Benjamin Kunkel, The New Yorker, 9 Dec. 2024 In his collaborations with Bernardo Bertolucci, Ridley Scott, Sam Raimi, Michael Bay and Gus Van Sant (among many, many others), Scalia has proved able to both adhere to and reinvent the poetics and formal research of these auteurs. Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 June 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1644, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of poetics was in 1644

Dictionary Entries Near poetics

Cite this Entry

“Poetics.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poetics. Accessed 20 Feb. 2025.

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