Free verse is an open form of poetry.

It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any

other musical pattern. Many poems composed in free verse thus tend to follow the rhythm of
natural speech.

Contents

1Preface
2Antecedents
3Form and structure
4References
5See also
6Further reading
7External links

Preface[edit]

Poets have explained that free verse is not totally free; 'its only freedom is from the tyrant
demands of the metered line'.[2] Free verse displays some elements of form. Most free verse
self-evidently continues to observe a convention of the poetic line in some sense, at least in
written representations, though retaining a potential degree of linkage. Donald Hall goes as far
as to say that "the form of free verse is as binding and as liberating as the form of
a rondeau",[3] and T. S. Eliot wrote, "No verse is free for the man who wants to do a good
job".[4]
Kenneth Allott the poet/critic said the adoption by some poets of vers libre arose from 'mere
desire for novelty, the imitation of Whitman, the study of Jacobean dramatic blank verse, and
the awareness of what French poets had already done to the alexandrine in France'.[5] The
American critic John Livingston Lowes in 1916 observed 'Free verse may be written as very
beautiful prose; prose may be written as very beautiful free verse. Which is which?'[6]
Some poets have considered free verse restrictive in its own way. In 1922 Robert Bridges voiced
his reservations in the essay 'Humdrum and Harum-Scarum.' Robert Frost later remarked that
writing free verse was like "playing tennis without a net." William Carlos Williams said "being an
art form, verse cannot be free in the sense of having no limitations or guiding
principles".[7] Yvor Winters, the poet/critic said "the free verse that is really verse, the best that
is, of W.C. Williams, H. D., Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, and Ezra Pound is the antithesis
of free"[8]

Antecedents[edit]

As the name vers libre suggests, this technique of using more irregular cadences is often said
to be derived from the practices of 19th-century French poets such as Gustave Kahn and Jules
Laforgue in his Derniers versof 1890. Taupin, the USA based French poet/critic concluded
that free verse and vers libre are not synonymous, since 'The French language tends to give
equal weight to each spoken syllable, whereas English syllables vary in quantity according to
whether stressed or unstressed'.[9]
The sort of cadencing that we now recognize in free verse can be traced back at least as far as
the Hebrew psalmist poetry of the Bible.[10] By referring to Psalms it is possible to argue that
free verse in English first appeared in the 1380s in the John Wycliffe translation of
the Psalms and was repeated in different form in most biblical translations ever since. Walt
Whitman, who based his long lines in "Leaves of Grass" on the phrasing of the King James Bible,
influenced later American free verse practitioners, notably Allen Ginsberg.[citation needed] One
form of free verse was employed by Christopher Smart in a long poem called Jubilate Agno,
written some time between 1759 and 1763 but not published until 1939.
Many poets of the Victorian era experimented with free verse. Christina Rossetti, Coventry
Patmore, and T. E. Brown all wrote examples of rhymed but unmetered verse. Poems such
as W. E. Henley's 'Discharged' (from his In Hospital sequence). Free verse in English was
persuasively advocated by critic T. E. Hulme in his A Lecture on Modern Poetry (1908). Later
in the preface to Some Imagist Poets 1916, he comments, "Only the name is new, you will find
something much like vers libre in Dryden's Threnodia Augustalis; a great deal
of Milton's Samson Agonistes, and the oldest in Chaucer's House of Fame."[11]
In France, a few pieces in Arthur Rimbaud's prose poem collection Illuminations were arranged
in manuscript in lines, rather than prose and in the Netherlands, tachtiger (i.e. member of 1880s
generation of innovative poets) Frederik van Eeden employed the form at least once (in his
poem "Waterlelie" ["water lily"] [12]).
Goethe (particularly in some early poems, such as "Prometheus") and Hlderlin used free verse
occasionally, due in part to a misinterpretation of the meter used in Pindar's poetry; in
Hlderlin's case, he also continued to write unmetered poems after discovering this
error.[13] The German poet Heinrich Heine made an important contribution to the development
of free verse with 22 poems, written in two-poem cycles called 'Die Nordsee' (The North Sea)
(written 1825-1826).[14] These were first published in Buch der Lieder (Book of Songs) in 1827.

Form and structure[edit]

Although free verse requires no meter, rhyme, or other traditional poetic techniques, a poet
can still use them to create some sense of structure. A clear example of this can be found
in Walt Whitman's poems, where he repeats certain phrases and uses commas to create both a
rhythm and structure.
Pattern and discipline is to be found in free verse: the internal pattern of sounds, the choice
of exact words, and the effect of associations give free verse its beauty. [15] With
the Imagists free verse became a discipline and acquired status as a legitimate poetic
form.[16] Herbert Read however, noting that 'the Imagist Ezra Pound gave free verse its musical
structure to an extent that parodoxically it was no longer free'.[17]
Due to a lack of predetermined form, free verse poems have the potential to take truly unique
shapes. Unrestrained by traditional boundaries, Yvor Winters described this as "attempts to
widen experience by establishing 'abnormal' conventions", [8] the poet possesses more license to
express, and has more control over the development of the poem. This can allow for a more
spontaneous and individualized poetic art product.
Technically, free verse has been described as 'spaced prose', a mosaic of verse and prose
experience.[18]
References[edit]

1. Jump up^ Abbs, Peter; Richardson, John. The Forms of Poetry: A practical study guide
for English (15th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 137. ISBN 978-0-521-37160-5.
2. Jump up^ Allen, Charles, 'Cadenced Free Verse',College English, vol 9, no 6 January
1948
3. Jump up^ Donald Hall, in the essay 'Goatfoot, Milktongue, Twinbird' in the book of 0-
472-40000-2.
4. Jump up^ in the essay "The Music of Poetry" Jackson (1 January 1942) ASIN
B0032Q49RO
5. Jump up^ Introductory Note by Kenneth Allott (ed) The Penguin Book of
Contemporary Verse, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, England 1950
6. Jump up^ Lowes, Livingston John, Nation Feb 1916
7. Jump up^ Free Verse, Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 2nd Ed, 1975
8. ^ Jump up to:a b Primitivism and Decadence: A Study of American Experimental Poetry
Arrow Editions, New York, 1937
9. Jump up^ Taupin, Rene, The Influence of French Symbolism on Modern American
Poetry (1986),(trans William Pratt) Ams Studies in Modern Literature, ISBN 0-404-61579-1
10. Jump up^ Allen, Charles 'Cadenced Free Verse' , College English , vol 9, no 6 January
1948
11. Jump up^ Preface to Some Imagist Poets, Constable 1916
12. Jump up^ De waterlelie
13. Jump up^ Michael Hamburger: Foreword in: Robert Marcellus Browning (ed.) : German
poetry from 1750 to 1900 (The German library, vol. 39), New York: The Continuum
Publishing Company, 1984, p. XV, ISBN 0-8264-0282-8
14. Jump up^ "Songs of Love and Grief: A Bilingual Anthology in the Verse Forms of the ...
- Heinrich Heine - Google Books". Books.google.co.uk. 22 November 1995.
Retrieved 2013-04-23.
15. Jump up^ Boulton, Marjories, Anatomy of Poetry, Routledge&Kegan, London 1953
16. Jump up^ Pratt, William. The Imagist Poem, Modern Poetry in Miniature (Story Line
Press, 1963, expanded 2001). ISBN 1-58654-009-2.
17. Jump up^ Read, Herbert Ezra Pound, The Tenth Muse, Routledge & Kegan Paul,
London 1957
18. Jump up^ Patterson, William Morrison, 'Rhythm of Prose' (Preface 2nd edition )
Columbia University Press 1917 [1]

See also

Blank verse
Cadence
Poetry analysis
Imagism
Vers libre

Further reading
 Charles O. Hartman, Free Verse: An Essay on Prosody, Northwestern University Press,
1980. ISBN 0-8101-1316-3
Philip Hobsbaum, Metre, Rhythm and Verse Form, Routledge, 1996.
H. T. Kirby-Smith, The Origins of Free Verse, University of Michigan, 1996. ISBN 0-472-
08565-4.
Timothy Steele, Missing Measures: Modern Poetry and the Revolt Against Meter ,
University of Arkansas Press, 1990.
G. Burns Cooper, Mysterious Music: Rhythm and Free Verse, Stanford University Press,
1998.
Jesper Kruse, Free Verse and the Constraints of Metre in English Poetry, Ph.D. thesis,
University of Copenhagen, 2012.

External links

Free verse read aloud by William Carlos Williams

Marianne Moore reads aloud an example of her Free verse
Wallace Stevens reads aloud one of his Free verse poems
Reflections on Vers Libre -Essay by T . S Eliot 1916
image: http://www.yourdictionary.com/image/articles/18618.ThinkstockPhotos-78492787.jpg

Free verse poems will have no set meter, which is the rhythm of the words, no rhyme scheme, or
any particular structure. Some poets would find this liberating, being able to whimsically
change your mind, while others feel like they could not do a good job in that manner. Robert
Frost commented that writing free verse was like "playing tennis without a net."

Free Verse Poems: No Rules

Free verse poems do not follow the rules, and have no rhyme or rhythm; but they are still an
artistic expression. They are sometimes thought to be a modern form of poetry; but, the free
verse types of poem have been around for hundreds of years.

Following are examples of free verse poems:

After the Sea-Ship by Walt Whitman

After the Sea-Shipafter the whistling winds;

After the white-gray sails, taut to their spars and ropes,

Below, a myriad, myriad waves, hastening, lifting up their necks,

Tending in ceaseless flow toward the track of the ship:

Waves of the ocean, bubbling and gurgling, blithely prying,

Waves, undulating wavesliquid, uneven, emulous waves,

Toward that whirling current, laughing and buoyant, with curves,

Where the great Vessel, sailing and tacking, displaced the surface;

Fog by Carl Sandburg

The fog comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

Free Verse by Robert Graves

I now delight

In spite

Of the might

And the right

Of classic tradition,

In writing

And reciting

Straight ahead,

Without let or omission,

Just any little rhyme

In any little time

That runs in my head;

Because, Ive said,

My rhymes no longer shall stand arrayed

Like Prussian soldiers on parade

That march,

Stiff as starch,

Foot to foot,

Boot to boot,

Blade to blade,
Button to button,

Cheeks and chops and chins like mutton.

No! No!

My rhymes must go

Turn ee, twist ee,

Twinkling, frosty,

Will-o-the-wisp-like, misty;

Feelings, Now by Katherine Foreman

Some kind of attraction that is neither

Animal, vegetable, nor mineral, a power not

Solar, fusion, or magnetic

And it is all in my head that

I could see into his

And find myself sitting there.

Washed Away by Katherine Foreman

Nothing's changed except me and the facts

And the sadness I didn't mean to start.

But it feels different now you've said

It's wrong, and I still can't see your point.

And I think as water runs over my hands that

That's really all there is or can be.

The gold is wearing off the infamous ring

And something wears away from around my heart.

After the Sea-Ship by Walt Whitman

After the Sea-Shipafter the whistling winds;

After the white-gray sails, taut to their spars and ropes,

Below, a myriad, myriad waves, hastening, lifting up their necks,

Tending in ceaseless flow toward the track of the ship.

Little Father by Li-Young Lee
I buried my father in my heart.

Now he grows in me, my strange son,

My little root who wont drink milk,

Little pale foot sunk in unheard-of night,

Little clock spring newly wet

In the fire, little grape, parent to the future

Wine, a son the fruit of his own son,

Little father I ransom with my life.

Winter Poem by Nikki Giovanni

once a snowflake fell

on my brow and i loved

it so much and i kissed

it and it was happy and called its cousins

and brothers and a web

of snow engulfed me then

i reached to love them all

and i squeezed them and they became

a spring rain and i stood perfectly

still and was a flower

Disappointments by Vivian Gilbert Zabel

Every life has a room

where memories are stored:

A box of special occasions here,

Shelves of shared laughter there.

But back in the shadows

Lurks a trunk locked tight,

Not to be opened and searched.

 There hide disappointments

Which darken every heart.

Fantasy or Life by Vivian Gilbert Zabel

So often you say you love me,

Yet you seemingly don't know

I cannot live in fantasy's fog,

Always in the blurred drug of dreams.

I need the clear, crisp light

Found in reality's realm of day,

Not the darkness of mere existence.

Samson Agonistes by Milton

But patience is more oft the exercise

Of Saints, the trial of their fortitude,

Making them each his own Deliver,

And Victor over all

That tyranny or fortune can inflict.

Poetry Genres
Poetry can be classified into three types: lyric, narrative, and dramatic. An explanation and
examples will be offered for each type.

Lyric Poetry
Lyric poetry deals with emotions and is written in a song-like way. Two types of lyric poetry are
odes and sonnets.

Well-known authors of lyric poetry include:

Christine de Pizan
Teresa of vila
Antonio Machado
T. S. Eliot
Shakespeare
Sonnets fall into two types; the Italian sonnet and the English, or Shakespearian sonnet. Poets
of the lyric style use words that express their feelings, perceptions, and moods.

An excerpt from Shakespeares Sonnet Number 18 follows:

 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Narrative Poetry
In narrative poetry a story is told about societies, cultures, and heroes. Epic poems are very
long, many times covering years of events; and ballads are another type of narrative poem.

Authors of note include:

Geoffrey Chaucer
Edgar Allan Poe
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Here is an excerpt from Hiawatha by Longfellow:

On the shore stood Hiawatha,

Turned and waved his hand at parting;

On the clear and luminous water

Launched his birch canoe for sailing,

From the pebbles of the margin

Shoved it forth into the water;

Whispered to it, "Westward! westward!"

And with speed it darted forward.

Dramatic Poetry
Dramatic poetry is written in verse and is usually meant to be recited. It tells a story or
describes an event in a dramatic and interesting way.

Poets of note include:

Shakespeare
Ben Jonson
Christopher Marlowe
Rudyard Kipling
Following is an excerpt from Kiplings The Law of the Jungle.

Wash daily from nose-tip to tail-tip; drink deeply, but never too deep;And remember the night
is for hunting, and forget not the day is for sleep.The Jackal may follow the Tiger, but, Cub,
when thy whiskers are grown,Remember the Wolf is a Hunter -- go forth and get food of thine
own.Keep peace withe Lords of the Jungle -- the Tiger, the Panther, and Bear.And trouble not
Hathi the Silent, and mock not the Boar in his lair.

Free verse poems could be any of these types of poetry or even a combination of any of them.