In an unexpected move, a federal court abruptly approved a settlement between the Department of Justice and three publishers that will resolve a controversy over e-book pricing.

The approval comes in the form of a strongly-worded ruling that is a defeat for the publishing industry, but that also contains flowery language and a full-length Emily Dickinson poem (see below).

The ruling in question was issued Thursday in Manhattan by US District Judge Denise Cote. It gives formal approval to an arrangement that will see HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette agree to grant retailers more freedom to set the price of e-books. In return, the Justice Department will drop an anti-trust lawsuit against them.

Under the terms of the deal, the publishers must abandon so-called “agency pricing” contracts within seven days of the settlement’s approval. In practice, this means that retailers — including Amazon (s amzn) — no longer have…