Thomas Rymer coined the term ‘poetic justice’ to imply the following:
A) the distribution of earthly rewards and punishments in proportion to the virtue or vice of the various characters
B) literary work governed by decorum and morality
C) literary work guided by random ways things often work out in the actual world
D) the metaphysical nature of poetic experience
E) the justification of poetry to be an integral part of the Ideal republic
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

The correct option is A and B.

Thomas Rymer, an English literary critic, coined the term "poetic justice" in his essay The Tragedies of the Last Age Consider'd (1678). He used the term to describe how a play should behave according to a strict moral framework, which is explained through the following points:
1. Proportionate Rewards and Punishments (Statement A): Rymer argued that literature, specifically tragedy, must depict a world where good characters are rewarded and evil characters are punished in direct proportion to their virtues or vices. This distribution of moral outcomes ensures that the audience witnesses a logical and moral universe, rather than the chaotic reality of everyday life.
2. Decorum and Morality (Statement B): During the Restoration and Neoclassical periods, literature was expected to serve a dual purpose: to delight and to instruct. Rymer believed that a literary work must be governed by strict rules of decorum (appropriate behavior and style) and morality, reinforcing societal values rather than undermining them.

Let us look at why the other statements are incorrect:
- Statement C: Poetic justice is the opposite of the random ways things happen in the real world. Rymer created the concept precisely because real life often lacks justice, and he felt literature should correct this imbalance.
- Statement D: The metaphysical nature of poetic experience refers to philosophical and spiritual investigations of poetry, which is not the focus of Rymer's moralistic definition.
- Statement E: The justification of poetry in the Ideal republic refers to Plato's classical philosophical debate in The Republic, rather than Rymer's seventeenth-century critical concept.

Therefore, statements A and B accurately define what Thomas Rymer implied by the term "poetic justice."