poetically

What it means

1. In a poetic manner.

   I want to cry for a life unlived, floating beautifully, poetically, all these years just out of reach.

   1983, Ken Norris, Whirlwinds, section 27

   4 more examples

   One who had caught a glimpse of the shining yet solemn eyes of the youth, as he walked home, would wonder no longer that he should talk as he did—so sedately, yet so poetically—so long-windedly, if you like, yet so sensibly—even wisely.

   1875, George Macdonald, chapter 18, in Malcolm, volume I, London: Henry S. King, pages 219–220

   I found out from his mate that he was a Longfellow fan, and the fireman complained bitterly that, not being poetically inclined himself, he often wished that Alfred would put a sock in it."

   1943 September and October, T. Lovatt Williams, “Some Reminiscences of the Footplate—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 271

   The bungled phrase, the slipshod paragraph, the inept metaphor, the irrelevant excursion, the disproportionate development, the feeble conclusion, are indeed all failures of meaning, and the more poetically ambitious the verbal structure in which they occur, the deeper and more substantive the failure may be.

   1954, W. K. Wimsatt, The Verbal Icon, University Press of Kentucky, page xiii

   It was poetically fitting. For almost a year, Mr. Trump has been the 800-pound gorilla whose unpredictable rampages have obsessed the news media. Now he was completing the circle by commenting on the 400-pound gorilla who briefly stole the spotlight from him for one holiday weekend.

   2016 May 31, James Poniewozik, “Trump, 800-Pound Media Gorilla, Pounds His Chest at Reporters”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 21 Mar 2022

In a sentence

One who had caught a glimpse of the shining yet solemn eyes of the youth, as he walked home, would wonder no longer that he should talk as he did—so sedately, yet so poetically—so long-windedly, if you like, yet so sensibly—even wisely.

1875, George Macdonald, chapter 18, in Malcolm, volume I, London: Henry S. King, pages 219–220

Where it comes from

1. Middle Englishpoetikly
2. Englishpoetically

From Middle English poetikly, poetycally, poyetikly; equivalent to poetical + -ly or poetic + -ally.