Free verse - Revision history

PeterWilson at 22:18, 22 February 2017

2017-02-22T22:18:30Z

PeterWilson at 11:10, 31 July 2015

2015-07-31T11:10:17Z

DavidWalker at 16:37, 28 January 2009

2009-01-28T16:37:14Z

DavidWalker at 16:34, 28 January 2009

2009-01-28T16:34:45Z

DavidWalker at 16:32, 28 January 2009

2009-01-28T16:32:07Z

DavidWalker at 16:30, 28 January 2009

2009-01-28T16:30:30Z

DavidWalker: New page: '''Free verse''' is poetry which does not have either metre or rhyme, i.e., it does not conform to a specific metrical scheme and does not make use of rhyme. Sometimes the ...

2009-01-28T16:26:22Z

New page: '''Free verse''' is poetry which does not have either metre or rhyme, i.e., it does not conform to a specific metrical scheme and does not make use of rhyme. Sometimes the ...

New page

'''Free verse''' is [[poetry]] which does not have either [[metre]] or [[rhyme]], i.e., it does not conform to a specific metrical scheme and does not make use of [[rhyme]]. Sometimes the French expression ''vers libre'' (pronounced vair LEEBrer, {{IPA|vÉ›r ËˆlibrÉ™}}) - it means: free verse - is used instead of '''free verse''' to characterise this type of poetry. Be careful to distinguish '''free verse''' (or ''vers libre'') from [[blank verse]]: [[blank verse]] lacks [[rhyme]] but has [[metre]].

Although lacking the regular [[rhythm]]s characteristic of [[metre]], '''free verse''' does not lack [[rhythm]] - it is only that these [[rhythm]]s do not have the regularity characteristic of a [[metrical pattern]]. [[Rhythm]] is integral to '''free verse''' in the way that [[metre]]] and [[rhyme]] are integral to most traditional poetry; and the distinctive [[rhythm]]s of a poem written in '''free verse''' will contribute to its poetic quality.

Here, as an example of '''free verse''', are the opening lines of ''The Journey of the Magi'' by T.S. Eliot (1888-1965):

:'A cold coming we had of it,
:Just the worst time of the year
:For a journey, and such a long journey:
:The ways deep and the weather sharp,
:The very dead of winter.'
:And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
:Lying down in the melted snow.
:There were times we regretted
:The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
:And the silken girls bringing sherbet.

The expression '''free verse''' is used particularly to characterise some of the poetry of certain twentieth-century poets - for example T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), Ezra Pound (1885-1972), and W.H. Auden (1907-1973). Eliot himself, however, in an essay entitled 'Reflections on ''Vers Libre''' (1917), complained about the use of the expression on the grounds that good '''free verse''' is not free but involves what he called 'a contrast between fixity and flux', i.e., an alternation between conformity to some traditional poetic form and movement away from it. Whether this claim is true of all Eliot's '''free verse''', let alone of all 'good' '''free verse''', is open to question, but what is unquestionably true is that poems written in '''free verse''' may contain, as well as the occasional [[rhyme]], lines which exemplify one or other of the traditional [[metre]]s. What there will not be is the consistent adherence to a specific [[metre]] and [[rhyme scheme]] characteristic of traditional poetry.

Of course adherence to a particular [[metre]] is a matter of degree: it can range form very strict to very loose. And so there will be borderline cases, in which it will be a matter of judgment whether a particular poem is better described as written in '''free verse''' or as written loosely in a specific [[metre]], e.g., [[iambic]] pentameters.

See further [[blank verse]] and [[sprung rhythm]].

[[Category:Prosody]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:18, 22 February 2017
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	[[Category:Prosody]]		[[Category:Prosody]]
		+	[[Category:Verse forms‏‎]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:10, 31 July 2015
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−	'''Free verse''' is poetry which does not have either [[metre]] or [[rhyme]], i.e., it does not conform to a specific metrical scheme and does not make use of [[rhyme]]. Sometimes the French expression ''vers libre'' (pronounced vair LEEBrer, {{IPA\|~~vÉ›r ËˆlibrÉ™~~}}) - it means: free verse - is used instead of '''free verse''' to characterise this type of poetry. Be careful to distinguish '''free verse''' (or ''vers libre'') from [[blank verse]] - [[blank verse]] lacks [[rhyme]] but has [[metre]].	+	'''Free verse''' is poetry which does not have either [[metre]] or [[rhyme]], i.e., it does not conform to a specific metrical scheme and does not make use of [[rhyme]]. Sometimes the French expression ''vers libre'' (pronounced vair LEEBrer, {{IPA\|ˈvɛr liːbr<sup>ə</sup>}}) - it means: free verse - is used instead of '''free verse''' to characterise this type of poetry. Be careful to distinguish '''free verse''' (or ''vers libre'') from [[blank verse]] - [[blank verse]] lacks [[rhyme]] but has [[metre]].

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:37, 28 January 2009
Line 2:		Line 2:


−	Although lacking the regular [[rhythm]]s characteristic of [[metre]], '''free verse''' does not lack [[rhythm]] - it is only that these [[rhythm]]s do not have the regularity characteristic of a metrical pattern. [[Rhythm]] is integral to '''free verse''' in the way that [[metre]]] and [[rhyme]] are integral to most traditional poetry; and the distinctive [[rhythm]]s of a poem written in '''free verse''' will contribute to its poetic quality.	+	Although lacking the regular [[rhythm]]s characteristic of [[metre]], '''free verse''' does not lack [[rhythm]] - it is only that these [[rhythm]]s do not have the regularity characteristic of a metrical pattern. [[Rhythm]] is integral to '''free verse''' in the way that [[metre]] and [[rhyme]] are integral to most traditional poetry; and the distinctive [[rhythm]]s of a poem written in '''free verse''' will contribute to its poetic quality.

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:34, 28 January 2009
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	'''Free verse''' is poetry which does not have either [[metre]] or [[rhyme]], i.e., it does not conform to a specific metrical scheme and does not make use of [[rhyme]]. Sometimes the French expression ''vers libre'' (pronounced vair LEEBrer, {{IPA\|vÉ›r ËˆlibrÉ™}}) - it means: free verse - is used instead of '''free verse''' to characterise this type of poetry. Be careful to distinguish '''free verse''' (or ''vers libre'') from [[blank verse]]: [[blank verse]] lacks [[rhyme]] but has [[metre]].	+	'''Free verse''' is poetry which does not have either [[metre]] or [[rhyme]], i.e., it does not conform to a specific metrical scheme and does not make use of [[rhyme]]. Sometimes the French expression ''vers libre'' (pronounced vair LEEBrer, {{IPA\|vÉ›r ËˆlibrÉ™}}) - it means: free verse - is used instead of '''free verse''' to characterise this type of poetry. Be careful to distinguish '''free verse''' (or ''vers libre'') from [[blank verse]] - [[blank verse]] lacks [[rhyme]] but has [[metre]].

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:32, 28 January 2009
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−	The expression '''free verse''' is used particularly to characterise some of the poetry of certain twentieth-century poets - for example T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), Ezra Pound (1885-1972), and W.H. Auden (1907-1973). Eliot himself, however, in an essay entitled ''Reflections on ''Vers Libre'''' (1917), complained about the use of the expression on the grounds that good '''free verse''' is not free but involves what he called 'a contrast between fixity and flux', i.e., an alternation between conformity to some traditional poetic form and movement away from it. Whether this claim is true of all Eliot's '''free verse''', let alone of all 'good' '''free verse''', is open to question, but what is unquestionably true is that poems written in '''free verse''' may contain, as well as the occasional [[rhyme]], lines which exemplify one or other of the traditional [[metre]]s. What there will not be is the consistent adherence to a specific [[metre]] and [[rhyme scheme]] characteristic of traditional poetry.	+	The expression '''free verse''' is used particularly to characterise some of the poetry of certain twentieth-century poets - for example T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), Ezra Pound (1885-1972), and W.H. Auden (1907-1973). Eliot himself, however, in an essay entitled ''Reflections on Vers Libre'' (1917), complained about the use of the expression on the grounds that good '''free verse''' is not free but involves what he called 'a contrast between fixity and flux', i.e., an alternation between conformity to some traditional poetic form and movement away from it. Whether this claim is true of all Eliot's '''free verse''', let alone of all 'good' '''free verse''', is open to question, but what is unquestionably true is that poems written in '''free verse''' may contain, as well as the occasional [[rhyme]], lines which exemplify one or other of the traditional [[metre]]s. What there will not be is the consistent adherence to a specific [[metre]] and [[rhyme scheme]] characteristic of traditional poetry.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''Free verse''' is [[poetry]] which does not have either [[metre]] or [[rhyme]], i.e., it does not conform to a specific metrical scheme and does not make use of [[rhyme]]. Sometimes the French expression ''vers libre'' (pronounced vair LEEBrer, {{IPA|vÉ›r ËˆlibrÉ™}}) - it means: free verse - is used instead of '''free verse''' to characterise this type of poetry. Be careful to distinguish '''free verse''' (or ''vers libre'') from [[blank verse]]: [[blank verse]] lacks [[rhyme]] but has [[metre]].
+'''Free verse''' is poetry which does not have either [[metre]] or [[rhyme]], i.e., it does not conform to a specific metrical scheme and does not make use of [[rhyme]]. Sometimes the French expression ''vers libre'' (pronounced vair LEEBrer, {{IPA|vÉ›r ËˆlibrÉ™}}) - it means: free verse - is used instead of '''free verse''' to characterise this type of poetry. Be careful to distinguish '''free verse''' (or ''vers libre'') from [[blank verse]]: [[blank verse]] lacks [[rhyme]] but has [[metre]].
-Although lacking the regular [[rhythm]]s characteristic of [[metre]], '''free verse''' does not lack [[rhythm]] - it is only that these [[rhythm]]s do not have the regularity characteristic of a [[metrical pattern]]. [[Rhythm]] is integral to '''free verse''' in the way that [[metre]]] and [[rhyme]] are integral to most traditional poetry; and the distinctive [[rhythm]]s of a poem written in '''free verse''' will contribute to its poetic quality.
+Although lacking the regular [[rhythm]]s characteristic of [[metre]], '''free verse''' does not lack [[rhythm]] - it is only that these [[rhythm]]s do not have the regularity characteristic of a metrical pattern. [[Rhythm]] is integral to '''free verse''' in the way that [[metre]]] and [[rhyme]] are integral to most traditional poetry; and the distinctive [[rhythm]]s of a poem written in '''free verse''' will contribute to its poetic quality.
@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
-The expression '''free verse''' is used particularly to characterise some of the poetry of certain twentieth-century poets - for example T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), Ezra Pound (1885-1972), and W.H. Auden (1907-1973). Eliot himself, however, in an essay entitled 'Reflections on ''Vers Libre''' (1917), complained about the use of the expression on the grounds that good '''free verse''' is not free but involves what he called 'a contrast between fixity and flux', i.e., an alternation between conformity to some traditional poetic form and movement away from it. Whether this claim is true of all Eliot's '''free verse''', let alone of all 'good' '''free verse''', is open to question, but what is unquestionably true is that poems written in '''free verse''' may contain, as well as the occasional [[rhyme]], lines which exemplify one or other of the traditional [[metre]]s. What there will not be is the consistent adherence to a specific [[metre]] and [[rhyme scheme]] characteristic of traditional poetry.
+The expression '''free verse''' is used particularly to characterise some of the poetry of certain twentieth-century poets - for example T.S. Eliot (1888-1965), Ezra Pound (1885-1972), and W.H. Auden (1907-1973). Eliot himself, however, in an essay entitled ''Reflections on ''Vers Libre'''' (1917), complained about the use of the expression on the grounds that good '''free verse''' is not free but involves what he called 'a contrast between fixity and flux', i.e., an alternation between conformity to some traditional poetic form and movement away from it. Whether this claim is true of all Eliot's '''free verse''', let alone of all 'good' '''free verse''', is open to question, but what is unquestionably true is that poems written in '''free verse''' may contain, as well as the occasional [[rhyme]], lines which exemplify one or other of the traditional [[metre]]s. What there will not be is the consistent adherence to a specific [[metre]] and [[rhyme scheme]] characteristic of traditional poetry.