How to Write Free Verse Poetry
Oh, poetry. So many different forms, where does one begin?
Free verse poetry is a beloved and popular form of verse because the style gives more freedom from classical structures and rhyme schemes. Each poem has a unique structure that’s created by the poet. In this blog post, I’m covering how to write free verse poetry by breaking down my poetry writing process and analyzing an original poem I wrote for a forthcoming collection. I’m also covering how this form gives a poet the most freedom within their expression by showcasing five other types of poetry. Within this article, you get to experiment with various types of poetry, to find what you gravitate towards. There’s a lot to unload— so grab a coffee, a notebook, and dive in!
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Are there rules to free verse poetry?
There technically aren’t any rules for writing free verse poetry, but the poet should go into every poem with intent. Meaning—the author should have a theme.
You may be thinking to yourself: my poem is abstract— a poetic expression of imagery within nature, where’s my theme? Your theme is what’s expressed through the imagery within nature.
Since nature is your subject, what’s your message about it? Is it abundance? Beauty? Poetry shouldn’t be aimless, but an intentional thematic expression of something.
When it comes to writing free verse poetry, a poet doesn’t have to write with a specific number of words per stanza or follow a rhythmic pattern. In fact, most of these poems mirror speech and are heavily dominate in today’s poetry. Poets may gravitate towards this form if they are wanting to express a metaphor, imagery, etc., without the confines of meter.
Free verse poetry is a great place to start if you’re not as versed on the various forms of poetry and want to express something within your own rhythm. (However, stick to the end of this article if you’re interested in other forms of poetry to explore.)
Fun fact: According to various online sources, including the Poetry Foundation, Walt Whitman is considered the father of free verse poetry. His infamous collection Leaves of Grass was written in free verse.
how to write Free Verse poetry
When writing free verse poetry, the poem you are expressing will have some type of literary device, or multiple of them woven within the poem’s theme. For example, these literary devices could be metaphors, imagery, alliteration, etc. These key components will enable you to craft a cohesive poem: theme and literary device/devices of your choosing.
What is my poetry writing process?
For me, poems (really all stories) start with an impression and theme. Let yourself sit within silence, the creative muse will move through you. Once you’ve had an idea, start writing what comes through you (you can edit later).
When I’m writing free verse poetry, I generally begin with a theme. Once I have my theme, I let whatever comes to mind, flow through me. Typically, what happens is that I pair the theme with imagery, and in some cases, metaphors and a rhyme scheme.
Truthfully, the real work happens within the edit. Like any other writing medium, that’s where the magic happens.
When it’s time to edit a poem, that’s when I focus on my meter, rhythm, structure, and overall message. This is where you sharpen every detail by altering word choice, line breaks, flow, etc. Sometimes I’ve rewritten large portions of the poem because they didn’t feel complete, or I didn’t express something clearly.
This free verse poetry example comes directly from my own work. This poem will be officially published in a forthcoming collection, but here is a sneak peek. This poem also showcases what it means to write free verse poetry.
The poem is titled Cottonwoods or Pavements, and we will analyze it below.
Free Verse Poetry example:
Cottonwoods or Pavements
By Serena Montoya
I feel suffocated from the stench of
wilted life living outside of my bedroom window.
But my soul clings to the sap of cottonwoods
for it longs to flow like silkworms
swaying through the air on a sunny June afternoon
as I’m held within the tire swing that carried us through childhood.
It didn’t matter that dirt lived on our skin
we were one with nature.
Now I’m craving the taste of soil,
but lost in the bitterness of pavement.
I wander the road, searching for a sprout
to appear at my feet so I may pluck it from the Earth,
to eat and taste home before the streetlights set me on fire.
Where do the silkworms take root when
they are met with cement?
Scrape up the clutter you call city,
where the streets are littered with plastic
and coated in human feces.
Bring me a bouquet of lilacs
to plant in the meadow of my soul, so I can finally
breathe in life to breathe it back out.
I will build a garden where my roots once reached,
where the soil is rich and the trees applaud our laughter.
Because a soul can only hold its breath until
it fades —
or breaks through the cracks.
It starts with You, and it flows within me.
We will build a new home, and
I will grow within the sunlight.
Forever rising —
like a sunflower reaching towards heaven.
Free Verse Poem Analysis
There are a few themes within this poem: isolation, nature, growing up. This poem follows the subject who lives in a city as an adult, but longs to live in nature, like they once did as a child. One could say that maybe adulthood wasn’t like the subject thought, or that the nostalgia of childhood was abundant in their memory.
Do you find a pace to this poem? The line breaks, grammar, and word choice are deliberately placed to express to the readers what it feels like to long for a childhood that once was.
Expressed by the theme, there was a beauty to living a childhood within nature that’s contrasted by the dingy isolation of adulthood within the city. We find imagery through the silkworms, city, sunflowers, and lilacs. Since nature is one of the themes, I wanted to paint a picture through those elements.
What else do you notice within this poem? Comment below. We’d love to hear your thoughts.
Need an editor for your poetry?
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How do I know if free verse poetry is right for me?
Honestly, you won’t know until you try. I organically gravitated to free verse poetry and feel that it allowed me to express multiple themes with the most natural tone. My first collection is all free verse poetry.
Give the form a try and if it doesn’t feel natural, or you believe having a different structure would help you piece together a poem better, then I implore you to explore some of the following poetry forms.
Below are five different poetry types: haiku, elegy, ode, sonnet, and blank verse. Write a poem for each and follow what feels most natural. You may use a different style per poem or per collection. Don’t restrict yourself to one, simply flow with each poems’ theme.
What are the various forms of poetry?
There’s a variety of poetry forms to choose from: give Google a search. But here’s a short list of poetry types to get you started in your research and creation. Try different ones out, see what gravitates to you.
Haiku — a short three-line poem with a word structure of 5-7-5. These poems often reflect on imagery within nature. This website showcases some haiku examples: Read Poetry.
Elegy — a poem that typically reflects on the deceased. The structure for an elegy is a quatrain, written in iambic pentameter, which reflects a heartbeat and has a rhyme scheme of ABAB. Here’s an example of an elegy poem by Rainer Maria Rilke, The First Elegy.
Ode — A celebratory poem of a person, idea, or event. It’s a formal lyrical poem, with three main structures: Horatian, Pindaric, and Irregular. For example, John Keats wrote the famous, Ode to a Nightingale.
Sonnet — There are two main types of Sonnets, Italian or Petrarchan, and English or Shakespearean. These poems have 14 lines within iambic pentameter; these poems have strict rhyme schemes. They may also contain what is called a volta, which is an argument or shift in tone. Let’s choose a classic poem example, Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Sumer’s Day? by William Shakespeare
Blank Verse — Blank verse poetry is similar to free verse in which it doesn’t have to rhyme, but blank verse has a strict meter. It’s a poem written within iambic pentameter. Here’s an example of blank verse by William Butler Yeats: The Second Coming.
What is Iambic Pentameter?
Since most of the aforementioned poetry forms involve iambic pentameter, let me share a general definition.
*To fully grasp the concept, do your own research and discover how iambic pentameter is written within poetry.
Iambic pentameter consists of ten syllables per line. The key to this style is the alternation of the stressed and unstressed syllables in a line. The rhythm of iambic pentameter reflects that of a heartbeat: Da-DUM, Da-DUM, Da-DUM.
For example: Shakespeare’s famous line:
“To be, or not to be — that is the question…” — Hamlet
There you have it! This list doesn’t contain the expansive poetry forms by any means, but it’s a start. Writing poetry doesn’t have to be complex— all you have to do is study and test them out.
Let us know in the comments below which type of poetry you prefer to write. Check out some of our other poetry analyses on the blog.
Happy writing!
