Free Verse Poetry

A lot of people have fancied themselves poets on account of their ability to put angsty or syrupy words together on a page without concern for freshness of expression, depth of thought, or interesting content. Others have reached the same conclusion about their literary status based on their willingness to desecrate language in the name of nihilism. A third group, the Hallmark card writers, don't care if they're poets as long as they get paid.

Free verse is not anarchy. It's not a license to throw away all semblance of meaning, sublimity, or syntax. Free verse is simply one of many forms of poetry writing, and the term simply indicates that a given poem doesn't follow a set metrical pattern. To assume that it consequently has no musicality or rhythm is to mistake prose for poetry.

Indeed, some impertinent souls go so far as to write what they call "prose poems." The absurdity of such a statement defies paradox in favor of simple oxymoron. A poem is by definition (at least, partly) a rhythmic organization of words that convey or impart some meaning. In a poem, cadence and meaning are inseparable because the way the words ought to be read determines how they'll be interpreted.

This is true of all language, not just poetry, but it's especially true of poetry. The goal of poetry is not to make propositions, but to go beyond the intellect to affect the inner person. Simply making remarks in sentences of different lengths can accomplish this goal no better than merely dumping words in random order or repeating the same phrase over and over (as some "poets" have done).

In many ways, free verse is actually the most suitable form for the poet's task. If a writer is too worried about suiting his words to an established structure, at times he'll be forced to sacrifice preciseness for form. The best formal poets seem never to have this difficulty, but they're the best, and most poets at times become stilted when the rigors of meter and rhyme prevent freedom of expression. Good free verse poets, while still concerned with cadence, don't really have the same problem; if a thought runs longer than a line, they simply start a new one.

That's one reason self-editing is crucial for free verse poets. The tendency to continue writing after the poem is finished is nearly universal (writers like to have something to say, after all), making the need for awareness and caution that much more important. Not all poets face this struggle, but (ironically) they aren't always the best ones, either.

If you plan on a career in poetry, you should learn to master at least one mode of formal poetry before venturing into free verse. That way, the freedom is less likely to go to your head and encourage you to be unpoetic, long-winded, or pedantic. The skill of experimentation is best wielded by those with the most technical knowledge.

Most of the 20th century's most revered and beloved poets wrote primarily free verse. T.S. Eliot, W.B. Yeats, e.e. cummings—their best poems are unrecognizable as such when compared to sonnets or heroic couplets, but when read with an open mind and a willing heart, they immediately take their place among the best works ever written.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
Did you find this review helpful?
21 Items found Print
Booked
Crossover #2
by Kwame Alexander
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 5th-7th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom
by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Michele Wood
from Candlewick Press
for 4th-6th grade
2021 Newbery Honor Book
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$17.99
Brown Girl Dreaming
by Jacqueline Woodson
from Puffin Books
for 4th-8th grade
2015 Newbery Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Award, National Book Award
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$10.99
Carver: A Life in Poems
by Marilyn Nelson
from Boyds Mill Press
for 7th-11th grade
2002 Newbery Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Honor Award
in Biographies (Location: BIO)
$16.95
Collected Poems of T. S. Eliot
by T. S. Eliot
1st edition from Harcourt
for 10th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$25.00
Early Moon
by Carl Sandburg, illustrated by James Daugherty
from Harcourt
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
Finale
by Calvin Miller
from InterVarsity Press
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Leaves of Grass
by Walt Whitman
from Modern Library
for 10th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
Leaves of Grass
by Walt Whitman
from SeaWolf Press
for 11th-Adult
in Seawolf Illustrated Classics (Location: FIC-SW)
$11.95
Lion and Blue
by Robert Vavra, illustrated by Fleur Cowles, preface by the Prince of the Netherlands
from Reynal and Co.
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Poetry of Robert Frost
by Robert Frost
2nd edition from Holt McDougal
for 9th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$26.99
Six American Poets
by Joel Conarroe, ed.
from Vintage Classics
for 9th-Adult
in Poetry Anthologies (Location: POET-ANTH)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Six American Poets
by Joel Conarroe, ed.
from University of Minnesota
for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Song
by Calvin Miller
from InterVarsity Press
for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$1.50 (1 in stock)
Spoon River Anthology
by Edgar Lee Masters
from Collier Books
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$2.00 (1 in stock)
Surrender Tree / El Arbol de La Rendicion
by Margarita Engle
from Square Fish Publishing
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$10.99
The Crossover
by Kwame Alexander
from HMH Books for Young Readers
for 5th-7th grade
2015 Newbery Medal winner
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99 $5.00 (1 in stock)
Undefeated, The
by Kwame Alexander
First Ed from Houghton Mifflin
for 1st-3rd grade
2020 Newbery Honor Book, 2020 Caldecott
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$17.99
Untune the Sky
by Doug Wilson
from Veritas Press
for 10th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$8.40 $6.00 (1 in stock)
Waters Under the Earth
by Robert Siegel
from Canon Press
for 10th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$8.00
Yeats Reader
by W. B. Yeats
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for 10th-Adult
in Poetry (Location: POET-GEN)
$22.00