poetic license

noun

1. license or liberty taken by a poet, prose writer, or other artist in deviating from rule, conventional form, logic, or fact, in order to produce a desired effect.

Word History and Origins

Origin of poetic license¹

First recorded in 1780–90

Idioms and Phrases

Also, artistic license. The liberty taken by a writer or artist in deviating from conventional form or fact to achieve an effect. For example, I've never seen grass or a tree of that color; but that's artistic license. [Late 1700s]

Example Sentences

This second meaning we owe to the poetic license of Mr. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, whose famous poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner contained just such a creature.

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On the other hand, perhaps Mr. Burns was using his poetic license.

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Rachel Syme’s foreword to the musical book says that this version of “Ironic” turns it into “an inside joke about poetic license and grammatical errors.”

Read more on Salon

Such poetic license might be more forgivable for the sake of clever cadence, but this is a song that tries to rhyme “Brexit’‘ with “Taylor Swift.”

Read more on New York Times

But, Pardoll said, it’s tolerable as a form of “poetic license,” because the task he’s taken on is so important.

Read more on New York Times