Features of free verse

Free verse is a poetry that follows no pattern. In fact, the lines of some free-verse poems may look as if scattered about by accident. On inspection, we will often find this apparent disarray to be deliberate.

Some poets, usually beginners, think free verse easy to write. On the contrary, if he cares about capturing his reader's attention and keeping it, the free-verse poet probably has to work harder than the metrical poet. Lacking the powerful (or hypnotic) devices of rime and meter, he has to discover by his own unaided wits words that can speak for themselves.

On his side, the free-verse poet has several advantages. For one thing, he has white space to do with as he will. He can arrange words in visual groupings. If he likes, he can even set one word alone on a line. He can also break his lines wherever he likes to indicate pauses. In this way, if his ear is keen he may discover subtle rhythms of great variety.

Many poets have sought reasons for turning away from patterns and fixed forms. Some hold that it is wrong to fit words into any pattern that already exist and instead believe in letting a poem seeking its own shape as it goes along. Some free-verse poets offer a historical motive: they want to reflect the nervous, staccato, disconneted pace of our bumper-to-bumper society. Others see free verse as an attempt to suit thoughts and words to a more spontaneous order than tranditional verse forms allow.