Free Verse Poetry

​Meter--Basic rhythmic structure of a line of poetry that is determined by two things: number of syllables and the pattern of emphasis on those syllables.

• ​ONCE upON a MIDnight DREary, WHILE I PONdered WEAK and WEary.

  • ​Written in TROCHAIC OCTAMETER-8 syllables per line/each foot (pair) is written in a stressed/unstressed pattern

• ​​Poetry that does NOT conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme

• Free verse poets attempt to reproduce the natural​ of spoken language

• ​Free verse uses many traditional poetic devices, such as rhyme, but it is done without a strict pattern

This is Just to Say

​William Carlos Williams

​

​I have eaten

​the plums

​that were

​in the ice box

​

​and which

​you were probably

​saving

​for breakfast

​Natural rhythmic rise and fall of language as it is normally spoken

​

• ​Different from meter, in which the stressed and unstressed syllables of a poetic line are carefully counted to conform to a regular meter

• ​Free verse poets depend on their own sense of balance, proportion, and timing when deciding when to end a line in poetry--not a predetermined, traditional pattern

• ​Imagery--use of language to appeal to the five senses

• Alliteration--repetition of similar consonant sounds at the beginning of words

• ​Assonance--repetition of similar vowel sounds

• ​Onomatopoeia--words that echo the sounds they make

• ​Parallel Structure--repetition of the same or similar words, clauses, phrases, or sentences

Free verse is NOT entirely "free" or without rules. Free verse ​poets organize their poems using the following:

• ​the natural, unstructured rhythms of spoken language

• ​important images and patterns of images

Fog by Carl Sandburg

​

​The fog comes

​on little cat feet.

​

​It sits looking

​over harbor and city

​on silent haunches

​and then moves on.