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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

poetic license

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

And it’s very recent history, so it’s well documented and part of the collective consciousness, meaning there’s not a lot of wiggle room” to take poetic license, she added.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2022

But once several comic exchanges bring her poetic license to light, his thrill turns to rage.

From New York Times ● Feb. 4, 2022

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.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

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