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Words contain a fascination for many writers. We like to arrange them on a page (or computer screen) and play about with them until they deliver something that delights our desire for creativity. When writers first turn to poetry, the chances are that they will start with the comforting structure that rhyming verse provides. The fact that the end of each sentence (or at least every other sentence) rhymes reassures us that what we have written is a poem. In such a sense, rhyming is a comfort blanket for the poet. However, it also is restrictive and some poets choose to break out of that stricture and experiment with free verse.

Free verse empowers poets to greater heights of creativity. Having to find a word that rhymes with another word often gets in the way of the emotion that you want to translate from your mind onto paper. The result can often be that the intensity of the writing is diluted. The word that you really wanted to use, and that properly represented your emotions, had to be jettisoned because it didn't fit and so you've ended up with a word that only half-heartedly conveys the importance of what you were feeling.

Another reason why some poets focus on free verse poetry is that it's often considered to be more sophisticated than the more traditional rhyming poetry. I remember attending a writing course a few years ago and the tutor basically said that rhyming poetry is largely considered these days to be an inferior (and slightly childish) form of poetry. I disagree with this sentiment, as there are some wonderfully sophisticated and creative examples of rhyming poetry. However, I think it is true that sometimes rhyming poems can come across as a bit clichd.

The bottom line, though, is that all writers who take to poetry will eventually probably hit on their own individual style. Being a free verse poet is a choice that many of us make and, in doing so, we realise that there will be some people who simply don't like this particular poetic style. The key for any artist, however, is to ignore the need to please everyone and instead focus on creating work that will please you and which may hopefully be appreciated by others.

Learn more about this author, Simon Wright.
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