The concept of poetic licence or freedom (Latin licentia, “liberty [to do something]”), that is, the liberty to deviate from established literary norms, was primarily a formal one, unlike the thematic freedom of speech (Greek/Latin parrhésia) familiar in rhetoric. In its original sense, it denotes the freedom of the poet to depart from linguistic and technical conventions of portrayal. These included particularly spelling, punctuation, grammar, diction, and word formation, as well as appropriacy to situation, imagery, factual accuracy, chronology, and ca…