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!
Thanks for this post, Jill! I love poetry, and these posts are inspiring me to figure out some way to incorporate poetry into my current WIP.
Here’s the poem!
I grew up in the same town
I have always lived in
But this town has held some
of the best adventures
I have ever gone on
From meeting friends
on the hiking paths
to camping in the woods
This town has held some
of the best adventures
I have ever gone on.
Charming, Adi! What a clever idea to end by repeating that line from the middle. ?
I’ve really enjoyed your posts on poetry Jill, thank you for the work you’ve put into them. As it turns out, there’s a running argument in my family about free verse. My brother calls it prose and I call it format. Whatever you call it, it is kind of fun to write. Despite that, I’ve tortured myself a bit over word choice today, but here is my best effort. I call it “A Day Forever.”
It was Dark,
and I saw nothing in all the earth,
for there was nothing.
Then there came a graying
and the earth dimpled before me
as something small and green came forth,
a young green, light the newness of life
and I knew the sun must be rising behind me for the light also grew.
The dust of the earth lay on its few leaves as
new life unfurled before me, in likeness to a fern,
yet different, for of its three fronds, two grew from one.
One right, was above the other left
and the green of the fern grew dark and mature.
The day was bright.
Then the sun began falling through the sky as the day became full
and it slid down toward a horizon now bright and clear.
The fern stood beautiful in the fullness of life
as the sun slid behind it,
and reaching forth, it touched the fern
gifting its leaves with gold.
Gold
traced the edges of the leaves and glowed with the sun and
the goldness of the fern danced in joy with the goldness of the sun
as it frolicked in completion of the day.
The sun, regal in its time
Slid behind the horizon until there was only a sliver left,
a slice, shimmering in the sky
but from that last bit of the sun
came a goldness that overtook the fern
and the leaves, once lined with gold
became entirely gold
and the sun set.
Yet stood the fern,
Glowing gold in the darkness
What a beautiful poem, Jack! Nice use of imagery in there. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the poetry posts. And I like that debate between prose and format. That’s funny. 🙂
I actually use free verse fairly often, but if I do, I usually have repetition or parallelism.
That’s cool. I think if I wrote it often, I would be tempted to do the same, Bethany.
Oh, I love Thanhha Lai!
My poem is a little long, so I won’t include the whole thing here, but here’s the last verse:
I am from many places which have all rooted
Deep inside who I am; fragile roots may be torn
By jostling and turning away and moving far
But the ones that matter, the deep-seeking taproots
Stay wrapped around my heart, my heart growing
Around them, holding them close, cradling them
So I will never forget who I am
And where I am from.
Oh, Ava! That’s a lovely image of the roots around your heart. Very cool! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
Thank you! 🙂
I’ve written a couple I Am From poems for school and always had lots of fun! I typically write poetry in free verse anyway, so I enjoyed seeing what I could do with the prompt. Here’s an excerpt from one:
I am from a loathing for Spot and Puff
that bloomed into a love for Harry, Ron, and Hermione—
then Bilbo, the dwarves—Frodo, the Fellowship;
I’m from a truth universally acknowledged,
from As you wish!
and from Second star to the right,
and straight on till morning!
I love it Jerah! “a truth universally acknowledged…” XD
Love it! I also got all the references 😉
Oh, so fun, Jerah! That was very creative!
I live in the city
But my heart belongs to the mountains.
I catch glimpses of my soul
in the willows by the ponds,
The red-winged blackbird sings my melody.
Often I sing back.
The breeze brings rumors of a wilder place
Outside the bustle of people
Where I can meet myself.
But I have responsibilities.
Life awaits
Just out of my reach.
My hands are tied with the outer form,
The inner substance evades me.
My heart belongs to the mountains
But I live in the city
Litore, that is just lovely. I grew up in Alaska, in the trees, but I spent nine years living in Los Angeles, and I felt like this ALL THE TIME. You captured the feeling beautifully. Thank you for sharing. 🙂