Free-verse poetry.
Most of my favorite poems are written in free verse, which means they do not fall under the constraints of form poetry. Not that I have anything against form poetry — it’s a lovely tradition, and I like reading and writing it — but not as much as I enjoy reading and writing free-verse poetry.
In free verse, there are no rules or guidelines to follow — no set meter or rhyme scheme that one must adhere to. There’s a kind of freedom in free verse that allows us to tap into language in a way that form poetry and prose simply do not offer.
Free Verse
Free verse is often described as following the natural rhythms of speech rather than the musical qualities of poetry. However, free verse can be rhythmic and melodic rather than sounding like natural speech, and it can contain rhymes and other patterns. Consider the following excerpt from “Spelling” by Margaret Atwood:
At the point where language falls away
from the hot bones, at the point
where the rock breaks open and darkness
flows out of it like blood, at
the melting point of granite
when the bones know
they are hollow & the word
splits & doubles & speaks
the truth & the body
itself becomes a mouth.
Read it aloud. It doesn’t sound like natural speech. It’s distinctly poetic and musical. It’s got a rhythm. Whereas form poetry often uses strictly patterned meter and rhyme, free verse can shake up the meter and use rhymes in unexpected places.
Repetition is key to musicality, but the metrical patterns and rhymes of form poetry aren’t the only way to use repetition. Here are a few ways this free-verse poem creates its own kind of music:
- Consider hot bones and rock breaks. Hot and rock use assonance, the repetition of a vowel sound, which renders an effect similar to rhyme.
- Consonance refers to the repetition of a consonant sound in close proximity. There’s a kind of consonance with the B sound in bones, breaks, and blood, even though these words are spread out over three consecutive lines. This repetition gives the poem a kind of backbeat, each word painting a vivid image in the readers’ minds.
- Similarly, look at the repetition of the hard O sound in the following words: open, flows, bones, know, hollow. This sound is sprinkled throughout the poem, giving it an open, upward-looking baseline.
As we can see, patterns of sound and rhyme do sometimes emerge in free verse, but these poems do not follow a plan or a formula. They can be almost jazz-like when imbued with musicality, including unexpected beats and riffs and trills.
Using Literary Devices in Free Verse
One might argue that literary (poetic) devices become even more important in free verse. Without the structure of form poetry, free verse often relies on literary devices for sound and rhythm. We’ve already examined the use of alliteration (the repetition of sound in close proximity) in “Spelling.” Alliteration is a useful tool for creating cadence or melody.
Consider also the images of hot bones, breaking rocks, flowing blood, and melting granite, which give the poem life inside a reader’s mind. I see this poem as a rocky, oozing volcano on the verge of erupting, which is a good metaphor for the overall sentiments that the poem conveys. Yet the full metaphor (of a volcano) is never explicitly stated. We get bits and pieces, glimpses and glimmers.
What other literary devices can you spot in the excerpt from “Spelling?” Onomatopoeia? Personification? Enjambment? Symbolism? Allusion?
Writing Free Verse Poems
Emily Dickinson is known as the mother of free verse poetry, but she’s not the only beloved poet who worked in free verse. William Carlos Williams, T.S. Eliot, and Ezra Pound also worked in this format. In fact, since the early 20th century, most published poetic works are written in free verse.
Free verse offers a broad scope for artistic expression, including a free and open musicality and opportunity for structural originality in which poets can bend language in innovative and interesting ways. Although there is no established meter or rhythm, no proper rhyme scheme, no set rules or guidelines, free verse can be a cacophony of sound that renders rhythms and beats and melodies.
Although free verse isn’t weighted down with the struggle to force words to fit the metrical patterns or rhyme schemes of form poetry, it can be even more challenging to work outside of guidelines.
Who are some of your favorite poets who write free verse? What are some of your favorite free-verse poems? Have you ever written free-verse poetry? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment, and keep writing!
I’m sorry, but I don’t see these ‘poems’ as poems. Yes, they are poetic, that I won’t deny, but poems?
Most of them could be written with no line breaks and be a lovely piece of prose without anyone thinking ‘This is a poem without line breaks.’
I know I’m a bit old-fashioned in this, but to me, a poem must have some structure. Not necessarily rhymes, though. So-called free verse does not, as its name suggests, have a structure. If it does, it’s not free, and if it doesn’t, it’s simply prose broken down into int lines.
Yes, they are poems, and have been defined as such for over a century. A poem is “a composition in verse,” and there’s nothing that says a verse must follow a rigid set of metrical patterns or rhyme schemes. Many verses do not. I actually just had a conversation with someone who was challenging some advice by a doctor, and they were saying, “Doctors don’t know everything.” It seems to me that we’ve entered an era in which expertise is not valued or respected — am I going to follow the health advice of a doctor or a sales manager? Am I going to apply a definition of poetry by lexicographers and scholars of poetry or laypersons? As shown in this post, free verse does have structure; it’s simply a different kind of structure than what you’d find in form poetry.
free verse is indeed poetry and i LOVED your response to the individual who insisted it was not!
I understand the sentiment and the rhetoric, but it’s just factually incorrect. *shrug*
I agree with the author. My favorite free-verse poem is by Walt Whitman,
“Oh, Captain, My Captain!”
Thanks, Veronica.
I really enjoy free verse, and I enjoy writing it. I like the freedom to move away from form and structure which is fun but at times constricting. Free verse, I believe and experience as liberating.
I agree, Paul.
Great post. Thank you.
You’re welcome!
I have a rhyming dictionary. For some words, it is very limiting when it comes to rhyming. This means any poet that employs rhyme is at the mercy of these limitations. Note that poetry predates literacy meaning what was fashionable yesterday in enabling people to remember poems by heart does not apply now. To me real poetry is about exploring and use of poetic elements like imagery, symbolism, alliteration, allusion etc.
I have occasionally used an online rhyming dictionary and found it quite robust. There are even settings for how strict you want the rhyme to be, how many syllables, etc. It can come in handy. There are plenty of other elements of poetry to focus on, however.
Both free verse and blank verse have always appealed to me, and I love this poem. (And yes, it definitely feels and sounds like a poem to me. It strikes a chord in my heart that is very different from prose.)
Thanks so much for the clear explanations. I’m saving this post to refer to when I start my next book of poetry. It’s very much appreciated.
You’re welcome, and thank you for your kind words. I’m glad you found this article helpful.
I never set out to write a specific form. Usually the flow of the words, mood, and ideas will dictate whether a rhyme is going to be beneficial or not. The separations of stanzas will sometimes be regular, but it’s not going to be a rigid rule to follow.
Nobody denies a painting as such if the artist uses a different technique to represent their vision.
I usually try to catch a flow too, although once in a while I have some kind of pattern or vision in mind when I start writing a poem.