The Collaborative International Dictionary
Poetic \Po*et"ic\, Poetical \Po*et"ic*al\, a. [L. po["e]ticus, Gr. ?: cf. F. po['e]tiquee.]
Of or pertaining to poetry; suitable for poetry, or for writing poetry; as, poetic talent, theme, work, sentiments.
--Shak.-
Expressed in metrical form; exhibiting the imaginative or the rhythmical quality of poetry; as, a poetical composition; poetical prose.
Poetic license. See License, n., 4.
Wiktionary
n. (alternative spelling of poetic licence English)
WordNet
n. license used by a writer or artist to heighten the effect of their work
Usage examples of "poetic license".
Then, for several Ehn, he altering lines here and there, with a liberal abandon, subjecting the piece, it seemed, to immediate and amazing revisions, rampant and wholesale, doubtless justified by certain disputable if not heinous exploitations of poetic license, generously construed, I was regaled by Hurtha's latest creation.
Even allowing for poetic license and the usual tavem boasting, there was no denying the dangerous nature of the waters around the Purple Rocks.
Picard lost sight of the Q-mist as, poetic license or not, he felt his substance stretched and prodded by the pressure being exerted on the cloud community.
While that office had in reality done little trial work, specializing in estate matters, the reporter had taken poetic license and had written that while Virginia Baxter had been working on criminal cases which Delano Bannock was defending, it probably had never occurred to her in even her wildest dreams that the time would come when she herself would stand before the bar of justice accused of a serious crime.