poeticized

Poeticized is a verb (past participle) and adjective formed from the verb poeticize (also spelled poetize) and the suffix -ed. It refers to the act of making something into poetry or rendering it in a highly poetic or lyrical style. The related noun is poeticization (or poeticalization).

In literary criticism and stylistics, to poeticize a passage means to replace plain language with elevated diction, figurative language, and imagery in order to heighten mood, theme, or rhetoric. The term can describe prose, narration, speech, or even real events that have been stylized as though they were poetry, or as though they carry poetic significance. The effect may be a deliberate artistic choice or a natural tendency of a text.

Poeticized language tends to employ metaphor, allusion, rhythm, and heightened sentiment. It can contrast with plain or prosaic language and, in some contexts, critics distinguish between effective poeticization that clarifies or deepens meaning and decorative or sentimental overreach that obscures clarity.

Related terms include poeticization (or poeticalization), poetize (or poetise), and poetic diction. The word appears primarily in literary analysis, discussions of stylistic trends, or translation studies when describing how a source text or target rendering adopts a more poetic register. Examples include descriptions of prose or verse that has been poeticized to emphasize inner life, beauty, or symbolic resonance.