Welcome to our poetry corner, where we will discuss free verse poetry today. Free verse poetry is a powerful style of writing because it grants authors complete freedom and expression within their works. This type of poetry has no structured style or rhythm, which serves to create poetry that is shaped by meaning and emotion.

FREE VERSE POETRY

Free verse poetry is not constrained by traditional form and follows its own length, meter, and rhythm. Known for its natural rhythm and organic style, free verse poetry observes a conversational form and relaxed manner. Despite this unconstrained form, writers can still use varying types of figurative language and line breaks to create rhythm and flow.

Considered one of the trailblazers for free verse poetry, Walt Whitman broke traditional form with long, unrhymed verses in the mid-19th century. To create cadence and flow, he used parallelism and repetition in his works such as the poem “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” with the verses, “As I ebb’d with the ocean of life/As I wended the shores I know.” His writing, along with all free verse poetry, highlight the importance of emotion and voice and emphasize the value of rhythm and meaning.

EXCERPT FROM “STOLEN SECONDS”

On the day the constellations burned

The airy breath of orange whispered down

On a new lifetime

With a sound so sharp it bled flesh into pieces

And the finite cracks of concrete and wood and stone

Overwhelmed by a love

So infinite

That never could a story be as intense

As when the Earth met the Moon

Bleary and stung high on the curves of his land

He weaved into the seas of murky daydreams

And tied knots around the evil

Tearing its presence from his people