Another Question about Poetry

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Ringo

Member Elite

since 2003-02-20

Posts 3684
Saluting with misty eyes

0 posted 2004-04-26 11:12 PM

First of all, I want to again thank all who gave me their insites to haiku this past week...
Now another thing has arisen taht has me queastioning my own thoughts, and intelligence...
My daughter didn't want to do any haiku, because they had moved past them in school to free verse.
Now, I am in the proverbial haven, because this is my specialty. I am informed that the poem my daughter recited for me that she had written, complete with rhyme and meter (of a sort) is free verse, and that I was mistaken to think that it wasn't. Am I going completely out of my friggin' brains, or is her teacher giving her bad scoop?

If it's true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the others here for?

Not A Poet
Member Elite

since 1999-11-03

Posts 3885
Oklahoma, USA

1 posted 2004-04-26 11:56 PM

From the poeticbyway (scroll down),

quote:
A fluid form which conforms to no set rules of traditional versification. The free in free verse refers to the freedom from fixed patterns of meter and rhyme, but writers of free verse employ familiar poetic devices such as assonance, alliteration, imagery, caesura, figures of speech etc...

Note that rhyme is not prohibited, only that the form is free from fixed meter and/or rhyme.

Hope this helps

Pete

Never express yourself more clearly than you can think - Niels Bohr

Nan

Administrator

Member Seraphic

since 1999-05-20

Posts 21191
Cape Cod Massachusetts USA

2 posted 2004-04-27 07:11 AM

As unlikely as it may seem, English teachers aren't always as well-versed in poetic formats and/or free verse as we'd hope they should be. It's altogether possible that your daughter's teacher doesn't know the difference between iambic and trochaic.. or a pantoum and a villanelle... You aren't necessarily the one lacking information here... (psssst - Feel free to cheat a bit and ask us all you want)...

Ringo

Member Elite

since 2003-02-20

Posts 3684
Saluting with misty eyes

3 posted 2004-04-27 07:48 AM

Thanks, Pete. I thought that was the way it was, however not really ever being schooled (beyond the joke of an early high school education) I wanted to be sure.

Nan- Thinking about your admission that teachers aren't always as well versed made me realize that this woman wasn't even an English Teacher, rather an Elementary Education major teaching the 5th grade (an actually not to well, overall). Thanks for the response.

If it's true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the others here for?

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