In my current contest I call upon poets to write about the duality of motherhood, expressing it in Free verse. What is Free verse? I have myself struggled to define it in the past. What I do know is that it is not a sentence chopped into bits and presented on the page as a ‘poem’. It is the embodiment of ‘show, don’t tell’ – a topic I have discussed in earlier blogs.* Here is a summary from one of them:
‘By leaving some things unsaid, the poem gains resonance, inviting the reader to engage actively and fill in those spaces with their imagination. It's also tied to concepts like translucence and elegance in poetry, where what's unspoken can be as powerful as what's written.’
In my article, Metamodernism in Art and Poetry,† I touch on the topic of Free verse. The distinction between conversational tone and intentional rhythm in Free verse is often misunderstood.
‘By resisting overt metrical constraints, it demands a deeper engagement with the text – one that aligns more with the natural rhythms of thought and emotion than with inherited oral traditions. The writer's role, then, becomes one of guiding this engagement: carefully crafting phrases that resist the pull of imposed regularity but still feel intentional and fluid. Sporadic rhyme/occasional rhyme might be employed where rhyming occurs unpredictably in a poem with mostly unrhymed lines.’
Points to Consider
The following are some points to consider when writing Free verse – I use my example poem, ‘Oenomel’,‡ for the contest to illustrate these:
1. Vocabulary to Suit the Topic
From the poem: ‘a mother’s oenomel breath puffs wind under gossamer wings’ By incorporating oenomel – the fusion of strength and sweetness – it challenges the reader to see motherhood as layered, nuanced, and defiant of easy categorisation.
2. Line Breaks Emphasise Key Ideas
From the poem: ‘reminiscent of the translucent wings of green lacewings— mistaken for a pest, but beneficial—‘ These breaks highlight the juxtaposition between perception and reality, focusing the reader's attention.
3. Natural Rhythms of Thought and Emotion
From the poem: ‘to strike out and explore a thorny world resisting the siren call of spring’s scent’ These lines resist metrical predictability but flow with the natural cadence of introspection.
4. Intentional Sporadic Rhyme
From the poem: ‘as naiveté fragmentises into bluster a mother unobtrusively dries tears’ Though not strictly rhyming, the subtle assonance between ‘fragmentises’ and ‘bluster’ adds texture without overt regularity, illustrating how sporadic rhyme can enrich Free verse.
5. Poetic Devices to Add Sound
From the poem: ‘siren call of spring’s scent / turning their heads with songs of love’ By incorporating alliteration spread over these two lines, it signals the end of an era of tenderness, heralding in the next phase of the duality of motherhood explored in the next verse.
6. Imagery that Resonates with Emotional Complexity
From the poem: ‘the sweet fragrance of pride a tantalising selection between intrinsic values and natural curiosity—‘ These lines pair sensory detail with abstract concepts.
7. Natural Speech Cadence
From my Free verse, ‘Cultural Mores Mirror’:**
The language feels conversational yet introspective, capturing the rhythm of thought and reflection. The enjambment enhances this effect, propelling the reader through the meditative progression.
Free Verse versus Metrical Verse
Using the closing lines from my poem, ‘Cultural Mores Mirror’ (1), as an example to illustrate the concept of natural cadence found in speech compared to that of metrical verse in the style of Shakespeare (2):
- before I could judge their truth / I failed to reason with my own
- Before mine heart could weigh their truth in scale, / My reason, swayed, did falter, dim and frail.
In the first example, the words breathe freely, unconfined by the structure, allowing raw emotion and introspection to surface naturally.
In the second example, notice the formal structure and rhythmic quality of iambic pentameter, which imposes a more melodic and disciplined flow.
The metered verse creates a sense of musicality and heightened drama, while Free verse often resonates with modern readers for its conversational tone and visceral immediacy.
Free verse is inherently flexible, characterised more by the absence of formal metre and rhyme rather than strict stylistic conventions. A conversational tone fits certain topics, as Free verse allows poets to prioritise the flow of ideas and feelings over formal structures. A conversational rhythm enhances accessibility without sacrificing depth or intellectual resonance.
What to Remember About Free Verse
Poetry often grants license to bend conventional grammar rules in service of resonance, imagery, and emotional impact. Ultimately, artistic expression thrives in bending rules.
- Intentional Rhythm: Free verse avoids strict metrical patterns but still requires a deliberate flow that mirrors thought, emotion, or narrative.
- Purposeful Line Breaks: Each line break should serve a purpose—emphasising key ideas, creating tension, or shaping the poem's rhythm and visual impact.
- Natural, Yet Crafted: While it follows the natural cadence of language, Free verse demands careful crafting to avoid sounding conversational or arbitrary.
- Interplay of Sound: Sporadic rhyme, alliteration, assonance, and consonance can enhance the poem’s auditory texture without overt regularity.
- Embrace of Imagery and Symbolism: Free verse relies heavily on vivid imagery and layered symbolism to resonate emotionally and intellectually.
- Freedom with Constraints: The ‘freedom’ in Free verse lies in its flexibility, but it requires discipline and intention to maintain its integrity.
Thoughts and Experience
Mother’s Day poetry often defaults to idealised reverence, sidelining complexity in favour of sentimentality. In my contest I wish poets to embrace the duality of motherhood.
You are welcome to share your thoughts about Free verse here under the comment section, or pose questions relevant to the contest.
Happy quills!
Su
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*Memento on the Moon - Suzette Richards's Blog (poetrysoup.com)
†Metamodernism in Art and Poetry | PoetrySoup.com
‡Oenomel (poetrysoup.com)
**Cultural Mores Mirror (poetrysoup.com)