Poetic License

Thursday, April 12, 2018




Grammar rules, rules, rules — learning languages involves many grammar rules. It may be hard to believe but there are instances when bad grammar is perfectly acceptable. This is called poetic license.

Poetic license (sometimes called artistic license or creative license) allows you to break grammar rules for artistic purposes. It is the liberty to depart from the facts or from the standard language rules to create an effect. 

One way of using poetic license is to change the facts of a story to make it more interesting or captivating. Another example is in song lyrics and poetry. Incorrect grammar is often used by song writers and poets to create a specific mood or character. 

Elvis Presley’s Hound Dog is full of grammatical errors but those errors tell us a little bit about the character (his lack of sophistication, his education level or background, perhaps). Take a look at the first verse of Hound Dog


You ain't nothing but a hound dog
Crying all the time
You ain't nothing but a hound dog
Crying all the time
Well, you ain't never caught a rabbit
And you ain't no friend of mine

Now, here is the same verse with correct grammar: 

You aren’t anything but a hound dog
Crying all the time
You aren’t anything but a hound dog
Crying all the time. 
Well, you have never caught a rabbit
And you aren’t a friend of mine


I think the difference is striking (quite dramatic) and poetic license was necessary to give this song the right mood. I can’t imagine it any other way, can you?

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