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Help Me To Understand What Free Verse Is
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Help Me To Understand What Free Verse Is |
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Paul Wilson
since 2002-07-07
Posts 4711United States 
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I need all the help I can get. Please tell me if I am right or not. I believe free verse is when the poet tells a story sort of in little paragraphs step by step as it happens till the final paragraph or conclusion. I have never written free verse before so if anyone would care to give me some pointers I would appreciate them very much... Paul Please help the new student I promise to share my snacks with you!!! |
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Bridget Shenachie Senior Member
since 2002-01-23
Posts 1056Kansas USA |
Hi Paul! I'm waiting along with you for light to be shed on the subject. I think this class has gotten a bit unruly already for Miss Nan. Did you read all of the responses to her assignment? I was as outrageous as the rest of the class but sometimes I just like to make a big fuss about nothing. I even complain when I'm actually overjoyed to be learning new forms. Shenachie |
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Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296Purgatorial Incarceration |
here are a few links to some poems i consider as good free verse poems (i included myself, heh)  Portrait - Me The Fall of Day - Alicia Who Could House all the Refugees... - Elizabeth Cor A Study of Loss - Severn Endurance Waning - Duncan The Presence of Glass - Me (again, because it got buried with only a few replies  )As you can see, these are all free-verse, and all very different from one to the other. You may be able to find similarities, but not many. The biggest is the usage of line breaks for emphasis, in lieu of or in addition to punctuation. Also, you'll note an almost complete lack of rhyme (though that's something i still argue with Kamla, seeing that there may be value to smatterings of rhyme in a free verse poem). Hope this will show a bit more than i feel qualified to tell. C |
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Paul Wilson
since 2002-07-07
Posts 4711United States |
Christopher... Thanks for the help and all the good links to Free Verse Poems. I will try to figure this out. Not sure what determines a line break but I will work on it. Thanks ... Paul |
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Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296Purgatorial Incarceration |
Paul - would you find it helpful if i tookone of my poems and explained it / the mechanics, and why i did what i did? |
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jbouder Member Elite
since 1999-09-18
Posts 2534Whole Sort Of Genl Mish Mash |
Paul: I think one of the most important elements is tension: talking around the object of the poem without overtly telling the reader the emotion or event you are writing about. For example, rather than writing, "She's an incredibly beautiful woman", one poet wrote, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day ...". You can use lots of imagery or you can be somewhat straightforward. You are "free" to do either. I once thought that writing in metered verse was more difficult than writing free-verse ... I no longer feel this way. You line breaks in free-verse, for example, can (and should) be used to help set the mood and tone of the poem. You are also "free" to us spacing and punctuation to either give the reader a visual boost to "getting" what it is you are attempting to communicate OR to signal the reader to pause when the following word or line is intended to capture more attention than previous lines. It also takes practice, but if you've learned to pay attention to sound in poetry when writing in structured verse, your task of writing good free-verse should be a little bit easier. Good luck. I look forward to reading what you pen. Jim |
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Severn Member Rara Avis
since 1999-07-17
Posts 7704 |
Hey Paul... ~rubbing hands in delight~ If you get me talking about free verse, or open verse as it's also known, I'll never stop - warning, this will be long ~grin~. Perhaps it's better to start with a definition of closed verse, or metered verse, or structured verse... Sonnets Epics Ballads Haikus Blank Verse and the list goes on. These forms, and many many others, are called closed verse poems. Without going into too much detail, they are called that because each form follows its own prescribed, meteric format - prescribed by poetic convention and tradition: Sonnets customarily have 14 lines and are written in iambic pentameter (like Shakespeare's, though not all of his sonnets follow the iambic tradition). Haikus are three lines with 5/7/5 syllables. Another telling feature of closed poetry is rhyme, they don't all rhyme of course - but many do. Long Poems such as 'Ode to the duke of wellington' by Lord Tennyson is an example... that's closed verse in short. Free verse then...a short history - free verse poetry as we know it began to emerge with the modernist poets of the early to mid 1900's: Ezra Pound Charles Olson Marianne Moore Robert Frost Amy Lowell William Yeats T.S Eliot William Carlos Williams and countless others. Their poetry laid the foundation for other poets like Frank O'Hara, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Adrienne Rich, Alan Ginsburg who wrote in the 1950's to 1970's.. In the last 25 years free verse has continued to develop. Line breaks play a big part in determining a free verse poem, but it's more than that. Central to free verse poems are notions of space, sound and movement. To elaborate on these ideas, albeit with simplification, I'm going to look at a section of a Charles Olson poem: *** Section from 'La Chute' (1950/60's) (someone reprimand me if this is against copyright..it's not the whole thing...) my drum, hollowed out thru the thin slit, carved from the cedar wood, the base I took when the tree was felled o my lute, wrought from the tree's crown my drum, whose lustiness was not to be resisted my lute, from whose pulsations not one could turn away *** Space: I'm referring to how a poem is laid out on the page. Let's look at line breaks first. A line break simply refers to the end of one line in a poem. So here: my drum, whose lustiness was not to be resisted the line break is at the word lustiness. Now, in most closed poetry patterns line breaks occur at the end of a full sentence. Or, if not, they will occur when there is a comma - signifying a pause. In free verse this is often discarded and many free verse poems have line breaks in the middle of a sentence - the above is such an example. You might notice that those lines only make a fragment of a full sentence - they link naturally to the lines below. Even if we put them together so they read: My drum, whose lustiness was not to be resisted, and my lute, from whose pulsations not one could turn away. they still form only a fragment of a grammatically correct sentence. This is a common technique in freeverse, one I'll look at a bit later. Other things contribute to achieving the notion of space within free verse poetry. Sometimes a poet might have one verse on the left on the page, then put the following verse on the right. He/she might have one or two words on their own. Like Olson does here: my lute, from whose pulsations not one could turn away 'my lute is' is on the right and all by itself... you might be wondering why that is so important, why it matters in a free verse poem. This leads me to speak about: Movement: The spatial placings of words and lines within a free verse poem contribute to how it is read. Most free verse poets that I know of never space their words out lightly. Each placing is created deliberately. If Olson decided to write my drum, whose lustiness was not to be resisted my lute, from whose pulsations not one could turn away it was because he wanted it read that way. He wanted a long pause between 'resisted' and 'my lute', and he wanted unnatural pauses between 'lustiness' and 'was not'/'pulsations' and 'not one.' So, the sense of space becomes more than one dimensional - ie, the appearance of a poem on paper. Instead, it becomes about the relationship between the reader and the poem. The spaces contribute to pause, depth and pace - creating interaction. Make sense? That leads onto Sound If you're just starting out with free verse, whether writing it or reading it - it's a good idea to get your hands on some and read it aloud. That way you can turn the spaces on the page into something you can hear. I've seen a video of Olson reading his poetry - believe me he really does pause in his line breaks. I know in my own poetry my spaces aren't supposed to be skipped over, and that applies to Chris's poetry also. Often, a poet wants to achieve a natural sense of speaking...as if the poem is modelled on the style of a conversation...Gertrude Stein endorsed this. The process of reading out loud makes it easier to see the rhythm in free verse poetry, because I know that at first glance it can look completely disorganised - often just a rambling selection of ideas or words. Those, to me, are the three key ideas... Some other things... Mispellings/word inventions: you'll note Olson wrote 'thru' instead of through. It's a common enough thing in free verse...today for example 'your' becomes 'yr' (though Olson actually did this too)...'be' becomes 'b'...this kind of thing closely links to sound. I went through a period of turning verbs into nouns and vice versa...So I might write 'I'm flowed' 'the sky is brute' etc...this kind of thing is common too. Also, omitting articles, like a and the etc. Here at passions, Martie and Dark Stranger use that technique a lot. Punctuation/grammar. Punctuation in free verse provides ground for some of the biggest debates I've even seen about poetry. In free verse - it's exploited, mutilated and sometimes omitted completely (Olson would start a line with a bracket - and never put in an end one!) I often write poems without any. The murder of grammar (heh - like the example from Olson I cited in the space section) combines with relaxed punctuation and contributes to the central ideas of space, movement and sound. Of course this is not to say that all free verse poems lack correct punctuation and grammar - it is merely a technique. If you want, have a look at my use of it in the poem A Study of Loss that Chris provided a link to above (though I was fairly tame in this one lol). Duncan's is an example of one without any punctuation- and you can see the pauses and movement that result in his poem because of the lack of it, and the fact that it's centered. Disconnected ideas/solid imagery A current trend in free verse is the absence of extended metaphor. For eg, I once wrote a poem that compared a troubled relationship to being like a battle...that's an extended metaphor, and 'not cool' now haha. Instead - disconnected metaphors and ideas are one of the contemporary ideals. By that I mean, several metaphors or ideas, thrown together lol. Also desired in free verse poetry today is solid imagery which echoes the imagist poets like Ezra Pound (1920-40's). If not a complete lack of poetic devices like simile and metaphor - then a huge reduction, relying on description, only with poetic flare. (A Study of Loss (my poem) is imagist-based). Which leads onto minimalism Meaning - less is more. Less words, less adjectives, less poetic devices...minimalist poetry can retain some images, or drop them altogether. Even with images, they're often detached and seem lacking in emotion - but the emotion is usually present - just hidden. a minimalist poem might turn her crystal blue eyes sparkled like an ocean wave into - her eyes, like sea under sky or her oceaned eyes or her sea-lit eyes ...you get the picture. I read a poem by one of my lecturer's (Wystan Curnow) the other day - he battled with cancer some time ago and here is a small section of one of his poems: I wait I eat I wait to die that's it. The rest of the poem was in the same vein. Classic minimalism - and as far as I'm concerned, very emotive. That's about all I can think of for now...I hope this is helpful, Paul.  K[This message has been edited by Severn (08-07-2002 09:17 AM).] |
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serenity blaze Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738 |
Kamla---thank you much,I have saved that...and C? I would very much LOVE a breakdown of one of your poems--send me a copy too please? purdy please? |
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Nan
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-20
Posts 21191Cape Cod Massachusetts USA |
Hey - These are some of our best free versers stepping out of the woodwork and joining us here...  |
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Janet Marie Member Laureate
since 2000-01-22
Posts 18554 |
Add to the above list of esteemed free versers is Martie..anyone wanting to learn free verse must study her gift of imagery and personification and seamless line breaks. here are a few from my library...enjoy /pip/Forum48/HTML/003235.html The Night the Sky Exploded /pip/Forum47/HTML/000348.html On A Thursday /pip/Forum44/HTML/004092.html Full of Diamonds ~~~~~~~~~EDIT Ive tried fixing the links...they still wont work from the server move..I have bumped all three poems up in Archives and they show at the bottom of the page if you click on "Todays Topics"...anyone who can edit this and fix them, feel free..I'll try again to make them work, [This message has been edited by Janet Marie (08-07-2002 04:43 PM).] |
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Jason Member
since 2002-07-31
Posts 72Macon, GA |
Thank You Sev and C, that shed a little more light on the subject I have had problems solving in free verse. I'll try to put it to good use Jason Practiced in the Art of Perception |
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Paul Wilson
since 2002-07-07
Posts 4711United States |
Christopher... I would greatly appreciate it if you could break down one of your free verse poems to help me better understand it and hopefully help me in writting one. Thanks for all your help... Paul Severn... I'm sure your wealth of information will help me very much. Thank You for taking all the time and effort to explain this to me, I will attempt to write a free verse poem as soon as i can get a topic and work on it awhile. Thanks Paul Jim... Very Thankful for your reply and help in trying to understand this. |
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Nan
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-20
Posts 21191Cape Cod Massachusetts USA |
You guys are GOOOOOD...!!! Thanks for all of your input  |
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