Just as there is more than one genre of fiction, there is more than one genre of poetry. Over the next few weeks we are going to discuss several different genres of poetry. Today we are talking about free verse poetry. This, for most, is the easiest kind of poetry to write because there are no rules as to its form.

Free verse poetry doesn’t have to rhyme or make use of a rhyme scheme. There are no rules as to length. It doesn’t have to have meter. It doesn’t have to use alliteration or assonance or consonance or any of those fancy literary techniques, though that does not mean it cannot be beautiful and packed with meaning. It often sounds like someone talking because it often follows patterns of speech—though it doesn’t  have to. Some of the earliest examples of free verse poetry can be found in the Psalms in the Bible. Take Psalm 23, for example, written by King David.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
 Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

To give you another example, here is the song “View Not My Face” I wrote for my Blood of Kings trilogy. (It actually doesn’t come into the story until book two.) Its lyrics fall into the category of free verse.

View not my face, I am undone beside you.
The beating of my heart will not cease,
Whilst I am near you, whilst I am near you.

Pity on my heart, from the day I first saw you.
Your pleasing face burns my memories,
Whenever we’re apart, whenever we’re apart.

Though I am nothing to you, I love you, I do.
How shall I make it known, that I love you?

Free Verse vs. Prose

So, if free verse is just words, how is it different from regular prose? It’s different from prose because it is still composed of lines. Sometimes the lines have a pattern to their length and where they break, some short, some long, like with Psalm 23. Sometimes they’re even-ish, like with “View Not My Face.” Sometimes they break where the author feels a reader might pause naturally. Sometimes they break for emphasis, like in this little poem I wrote.

Will you go with me?
Somewhere.
We could see the world.
Together.
Walking, running, sailing, flying, any way we can.
Free.
As long as I’m with you.

I did use some parallelism in that poem. The Psalms in the Bible use a lot of parallelism as well. Parallelism, also called parallel structure, is when words or phrases are balanced in some way or repeated. This is not a requirement of free verse, but you can use it if you wish. Like I said before, no rules! But it might be better said that you use your creativity to decide whether or not you want to use some kind of literary technique in your free verse poem. It’s up to you.

Novels Written in Verse

Have you ever read a novel written in verse? These are mostly written in free verse with no special literary technique beyond that of free verse. I particularly enjoyed the middle grade verse novel Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai, which tells the story of Hà, a ten-year-old girl who must flee Saigon with her family to avoid the Vietnam War. She travels by ship all the way to Florida, then is placed with a sponsor family in Alabama, where she must attend school when she speaks no English at all. It’s a lovely story. Another popular verse novelist is Kwame Alexander.

Free Verse vs. Blank Verse

What about blank verse? Is blank verse the same as free verse? No. While blank verse doesn’t rhyme, it does have a meter, often in iambic pentameter. Take this famous example from Shakespeare’s Hamlet for example. Not every line has ten syllables, but when there are eleven syllables, the stress still comes on syllable ten. This doesn’t rhyme, but it does have rhythm, so it is not free verse.

To be, or not to be- that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die- to sleep-
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. ‘Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die- to sleep.
To sleep- perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub!

Today’s Poetry Challenge

Today’s challenge is an easier one. I want you to write an “I Am From” free verse poem about your home or the place you grew up. I wrote one about Alaska for my grad school “how to teach elementary art” class, then I rewrote it in the shape of Alaska, just for fun (which, admittedly, makes it hard to read). You don’t have to go that far, but do share some lines about the place you call home. And have fun!