Free verse

After studying and writing poetry since I was in the third grade, more than fifty years ago, I have come to the conclusion that the more I learn, the more there is to learn. Every time I turn around, I discover another form or type of poetry. Some of the ways I’ve tried; others I chose not to use or examine too closely (the names alone sounded like diseases). I use free verse most often in my writing because it gives me the freedom to explore word use, subject matter, and imagery that structured forms cannot.

“But how do you write free verse?” someone asks “I thought poetry had to rhyme and have a certain number of syllables in each line.”

No, free verse may have some rhyme, but rhyme is not required. Any free verse rhyme cannot have an outline or pattern, and free verse cannot have a pattern of fixed numbers of syllables in its lines. However, not having a rhythm scheme doesn’t mean that free verse doesn’t have its own fluid flow. It does, but not just any kind of pattern.

Here are two examples of free verse, one with some rhyme, one without rhyme.

With rhythm (note that the rhythm used has no pattern or scheme):

disappointments

Every life has a room

where memories are stored

A special occasion box here,

Shelves of shared laughter there.

But back in the shadows

Lurks a well-closed trunk,

It should not be opened and searched.

There lies the disappointments

that darken every heart.

Promises made in passing,

It was never meant to be saved,

They still throb with the pain inflicted.

Hopes, shattered like glass

Thrown against a stone wall,

Leave bread chips

That never fully heals.

Dark despair drowns everything,

When disappointment calls.

I can share my memories

remembered with joy,

But the disappointments

Get to be all mine.

But there are so many

A life of broken items

or things that disappear.
So I ask, please don’t promise

Unless you keep going.

(copyright 2004 by Vivian Gilbert Zabel)

Without rhythm:

fantasy or life

So many times you say you love me

Yet apparently you don’t know

I can’t live in the mist of fantasy

Always in the blurred drug of dreams.

I need the light clear and sharp

Found in the realm of day reality,

Not the darkness of mere existence.

Come with me from the still shadows

To the brimming brilliance of both

Dancing and strolling, walking and running,

The never dullness of movement,

Of songs and lullabies, of tears and smiles.

Live real life just spray

With dreams only occasionally.

So many lies beyond your reach

If all you seek is cloud wisdom,

Nothing daring or expected.

Come out from behind the walls of doubt

And find me waiting expectantly

With arms outstretched,

As I welcome you to the abundant life.

(copyright 2005 by Vivian Gilbert Zabel

“So,” the questioner continues, “is anything that looks like poetry free verse?”

Not exactly, friend. (Yes, I know it’s a fragment, but fragments can be used to achieve an effect.) Writing any kind of poetry means using poetic resources and language. Poetry and prose don’t just look different on the page or screen, they sound different. Poetry is more concise and precise, reduced to exact and concentrated images.

“I’m lost.” The questioner frowns in confusion.

Ok, how about an example? Teachers always have folders and files full of examples. Let’s first look at a very short prose (prose is written material that is not poetry):

The church stood on the hill as it dominated the community. Its bell rang out in the clear morning air, calling the people to come and worship. Soon the pews were filled and the music soared to the sky as family and friends joined in thanksgiving.

The paragraph is not poetry, but it could be turned into poetry without worrying about rhyme or meter (rhythm). However, simply writing the same words and sentences in small snippets of lines is not the same as poetry; although, the wording is quite poetic in a way.

First, let’s see what kind of poetic devices we could use: alliteration (the repetition of the initial sounds used for the effect), since we can see church and community already in the paragraph, as well as clear, called, come. If we use all those words, correctly together, we have alliteration.

Next, what can we use as a metaphor (comparing different things by saying one is the other) or simile (comparing different things by saying one is like the other)? We might compare the church to something or the bell to something. The church, like a guardian, watched over the community; the bell, clamorous messenger, lines up its call.

Perhaps we can insert an oxymoron (the use of contradictory terms, together, for effect). Living death is an oxymoron. Heavenly sin is another. What could we use in this poem that we are going to write? Since we’re talking about a community of people coming together and we’re mentioning family and friends, what about something like friendly enemies? Or maybe that’s not a good example, we’ll see.

Now we have some ideas that we can use in our free verse poem. Notice that we haven’t tried to put together rhymes or choose a pattern of syllables because we don’t care. We want to express our ideas and poetic meanings.

Like a benign guardian,

the church sits on a hill,

caring for the community below.

The bell, a weeping messenger,

his call resounds to all

through the crystal clear air

of the morning light.

What do we have so far? I see alliterations, metaphors and similes, without rhyme or rhythmic pattern. Thus we have the beginning of a poem in free verse. Let’s continue.

The pews fill up as the music grows

sending songs to heaven

friends and ken reunite

to worship and rejoice,

grateful that for a day

friendly enemies can forget

any mistrust or discord.

We find more alliteration and our oxymoron in that stanza. There’s no rhythm yet, but there could be if we wanted to, as long as we don’t set a pattern. Any line that has the same meter or number of syllables is accidental, not a pattern or scheme.

Oh, one last comment, free verse doesn’t mean you don’t use proper punctuation or capitalization. While looking for examples of free verse, I found many that had no punctuation (causing ideas and thoughts to come together) and were not capitalized, which distracts from the meaning.

I hope I have helped you understand a little more about writing free verse. Give it a try and see what you can create.