poetic license

American  

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.

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poetic license Idioms  

1. 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]

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Etymology

Origin of poetic license

First recorded in 1780–90

Example Sentences

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.”

From Salon • Nov. 29, 2024

“Bedewed it with his tears and bid to it an everlasting adieu” is the stuff of poetic license and bad poetry.

From Slate • Nov. 28, 2024

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.”

From New York Times • Jun. 30, 2023

Suddenly, what was originally just an ethereal touch of poetic license becomes an extended flight of surrealism.

From Washington Post • Jun. 17, 2021

“Cake, cake, everywhere, and not a slice for me,” she recited, using her poetic license to make the poem fit her own circumstances more neatly.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood