QUALITY Free Verse

[Zondrae]

G'day Glenny,

I have written only a handful of non rhymers. When I try to 'not rhyme' I find that, before too long, the odd rhyme sneaks in and once I start I can't control it. Then I have to go back and 'fix' the start. I have read and appreciate some really beautiful free verse. But I also have seen loads and loads of rubbish but Rhyming and non.

Bob I have a poem 'Just a thong at twilight' but it hasn't seen the light of day yet so I'll keep it to myself and see if I can kick it into some kind of shape to send into a comp. I don't write 'funny' very often.

[Neville Briggs]

Oh dear Zondrae, you've induced me to say this again, to the pain of some people, for the ad nauseous time.

The difference between so-called free verse and other types has nothing to do with rhyming.

Plenty of "free verse " has rhyming. Plenty of traditional formal verse has no rhyming.

What makes poetry is ...metre.

It is the lines, the line endings that make poetry. Traditional poetry lines are measured or metered to set lengths.
Free verse usually has varied line lengths according to a measured design decided by the writer and hopefully according to the rhythm of language that heightens emotion or feeling. Rhyming is optional.

Prose lines start and end at the page margins ( unless a paragraph ends midway. ) That's the usual measuring required for prose.
Free verse is not prose, it is not measured that way.


The organising principle for all poetry. All poetry....is metre.

[manfredvijars]

... so Glenny, why on earth would you post "quality-free" verse ?? ...

[Zondrae]

G'day Neville,

Excuse my ignorance... but what is Doggerel? And who is the judge?

[Bob Pacey]

I like the way you smiled when you said that Zondrae,

I think it is those little things that the nomads pick up when walking their dogs Zondrae.


I concur Manfred !

Robert

[Neville Briggs]

As I understand it Zondrae, doggerel is a descriptive word not a discrete category.
It's hard to say what doggerel is, easier to say it describes verse that has failed. I fear that means there is plenty of doggerel in my paltry efforts.

One of the most gruesome examples of doggerel is the infamous The Tay Bridge Disaster by Williiam McGonagall.

Here is a couple of stanzas. (from The Ode Less Travelled, FRY, 2005 p153 )

When the train left Edinborough
The passengers hearts were light and felt no sorrow
But Boreus blew a terrific gale,
which made their hearts for to quail,
And many of the passengers did say -
' I hope God will send us safe across the bridge of Tay'.

So the train sped on with all its might,
And Bonnie Dundee soon hove into sight,
And the passengers hearts felt light,
Thinking they would enjoy themselves on the New Year,
With their friends at home they lov'd most dear,
And wish them all a happy New Year.


Very nice perfect rhymes ( If you say Edinborough as Edinborro ) But POETRY.... NOT EVEN CLOSE.

[Vic Jefferies]

"Free verse is an open form of poetry. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any other musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech."
Much so called free verse is not in fact "free."

[Neville Briggs]

That's it Vic. Someone has said that free verse is like free love; a contradiction in terms.

[Maureen K Clifford]

Nothin in life is free is it? Sometimes the price you pay for free verse is in not enjoying the read

[Neville Briggs]

I think he meant Maureen, that free, as in free verse doesn't mean free for all, anything goes. Even the most informal verse is still bound by poetic conventions otherwise it is meaninglessness, every bit as bad, if not worse than clumsy doggerel.

I think that the ones you refer to, not enjoying the read, are those that mistakenly think that, anything goes, is the go. There's a lot of them about.

And to get back to Glenny's item that started all this. That one is certainly not anything goes, and does indeed conform to poetic conventions. It is very meaningful.