Free verse

After studying and writing poetry since I was in third grade, more than fifty years, 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 have tried; Others I decided not to use or examine them too closely (the names alone sounded like diseases). I use free verse more often in my writing because it gives me the freedom to explore the use of words, themes, and images that structured forms cannot.

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

No, free verse may have some rhyme, but no rhyme is required. Any rhyme in free verse 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 does not mean that free verse does not have its own smooth flow. It does, but not just any kind of pattern.

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

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

Disappointments

Every life has a room

where memories are stored:

A special occasions box here,

Shelves of laughter shared there.

But back in the shadows

Lurk a hermetically sealed trunk

It should not be opened and registered.

There lies the disappointments

That darken every heart.

Promises made in passing

I never wanted to be saved

It still throbs with inflicted pain.

Hopes shattered like glass

Thrown against a stone wall,

Leaves splinters of pain

That never completely heals.

Dark despair suffocates everything

When disappointment calls.

I can share my memories

Remembered with joy,

But the disappointments

Get to remain all mine.

But there are so many

A lifetime of broken items

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

Unless you follow it.

(copyright 2004 by Vivian Gilbert Zabel)

Without rhyme:

Fantasy or life

So often you say that you love me

Yet apparently you don’t know

I can’t live in the fog of fantasy

Always on the blurry drug of dreams.

I need the clear and crisp light

Found in the realm of the day’s reality

Not the darkness of mere existence.

Come with me from the still shadows

To the overflowing brightness of both

Dancing and walking, walking and running,

The never dullness of movement,

Of songs and lullabies, of tears and smiles.

Live the real life just sprayed

With dreams only occasionally.

There are so many things beyond your reach

If all you’re looking for are wisps of cloud,

Without anything daring or expected.

Come out from behind the walls of doubt

And you find me waiting expectantly

With open arms

As I welcome you to the abundant life.

(copyright 2005 by Vivian Gilbert Zabel

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

Not exactly, my friend. (Yes, I know it’s a snippet, but snippets can be used for effect.) Writing any kind of poetry means using poetic language and devices. Poetry and prose not only appear different on the page or screen, they sound different. Poetry is more concise and precise, reduced to exact concentrated images.

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

Well, 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 high on the hill overlooking the community. His bell rang through the clean morning air, calling for people to come and worship. Soon the benches were filled and music rose to the skies as families 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 short lines is not the same as poetry; although, in a way, the writing is quite poetic.

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

Next, what can we use as a metaphor (the comparison of different things that say that one is the other) or simile (the comparison of different things that say that one is the same or like the other)? We could compare the church to something or the bell to something. The church, as a guardian, watched over the community; the bell, a crying messenger, rang his call.

Maybe we can insert an oxymoron (the use of contradictory terms, together, to give 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 are talking about a community of people coming together and we mention 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. Note that we have not tried to put any rhymes together or choose a syllable pattern 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 crying messenger,

your call sounds to all

through the crystalline air

of the early morning light.

What do we have so far? I see alliteration, metaphor and simile, without rhyme and without rhythm scheme. So we have the beginning of a free verse poem. Let’s continue.

The benches fill up as the music swells

sending songs to heaven.

Kith and Ken reunite

to worship and rejoice,

grateful that for a day

friendly enemies can forget

any mistrust or discord.

We find some more alliteration and our oxymoron in that verse. There’s no rhyme yet, but there could be if we wanted, as long as we don’t establish 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 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, distracting from the meaning.

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