Mimetic fallacy is the erroneous belief that a poem’s form must directly imitate or mirror its subject matter in a literal, one-to-one correspondence—such as jagged lines for chaos or circular stanzas for eternity; while mimesis has value, the fallacy ignores poetry’s capacity for irony, abstraction, and symbolic indirection, where disjunction between form and content often yields deeper insight than simple replication.

Critical error assuming formal/stylistic choice directly imitates content. Related: mimesis, pathetic fallacy. Tip: Just because poem about chaos uses chaotic form doesn't make it good—evaluate artistic effectiveness, not mere correspondence.