by Miranda Pierson

Created on: July 30, 2010   Last Updated: April 10, 2012

Free verse really is poetry. When most people think of poetry, they think of the typical rhyme schemes and definite patterns. While such rhyme schemes and patterns contribute to beautiful poetic works, this is not true of all poetry. Some of the greatest poems have no rhyming pattern at all. The free verse poems express a specific idea without conforming to the general standards of poetry. Although free verse poems cannot be categorized and analyzed the same way as poems with rhyming patterns, they are still real poems and deserve the proper amount of attention and respect.

Free verse poems represent real poetry because they have the same qualities as the poems with the rhyming patterns. Such attributes include the ability to state a belief, the flow of the words, and the symbolism. When an individual analyzes a poem, sometimes he or she does not always desire to examine a certain rhyming pattern. Instead, he or she may want to concentrate more on the meaning of the words, and why they are organized in such a way. Most free verse poems do have a particular layout that characterizes their idea. For example, in the poem "1(a", ("a leaf falls" in loneliness), by e.e. cummings, the idea of the leaf falling is placed inside of the concept of the loneliness. The poem is organized in such a way that you understand that the overall emotion of loneliness surrounds the simple act of the leaf falling. This poem is free verse, yet it is real, and it has a real meaning.

Some people may not believe that free verse is really poetry because it does not conform to the standards of the traditional poems that possess rhyme schemes. When the times change, the styles of poetry change as well. Not every emotion or idea can be expressed in the same way. This is why free verse poetry exists. People need to accept it and understand it in order to realize how real it is. 

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