The poet regarded any alteration as a detraction from the original. (detraction: disparagement, denigration, belittlement) A crooked line might detract from the page's polish but enhance a reader's understanding. (detract: diminish, lessen, reduce; enhance: improve, augment, heighten) Her typesetter found that dichotomy too reductive. (dichotomy: division, split, binary distinction; reductive: oversimplified, simplistic, overly narrowing) Why assume that precision was inimical to feeling? (inimical: hostile, adverse, antagonistic)
The two had a shared ethic: both wanted the reader to hear the poem. (ethic: moral code, ethical code, value system) The ethical question was who could change a mark without the other's knowledge. (ethical: in this context moral, right-and-wrong) Her indignation was justified, his complacent claim of a printer's privilege decidedly less so. (indignation: outrage, resentment, umbrage; complacent: self-satisfied, smug, self-congratulatory)
They printed two proofs and read each aloud. He asked for his comma back; she placed it one word later. In retrospect, the line's rhythm had been the only arbiter whose verdict both were prepared to accept. (retrospect: hindsight, review, recollection)