Free Verse: Guest Post by Natalie Davis

Natalie Davis is a fellow young writer and poet and a good friend of mine. She's written many gorgeous poems and has helped open my eyes to the power of free-style poetry, or slightly less structured traditional-style poetry. I enjoyed this blog post, and I hope you will too. I'm honored to bring a fresh and thoughtful perspective to my blog.

Free Verse by Natalie Davis

Is non-rhyming poetry even poetry? 

If you’ve ever tried writing free verse, someone has probably asked you this question. It sparks valid conversation - what is poetry? How do we define it? 

While this answer might look a little different for everyone, most can agree that poetry is an art form - so that begs the question - is free-verse poetry art? 

I certainly would like to think so. And I think many poets would agree - for instance, take the world-famous poet Emily Dickinson. While many of her pieces have rhyming aspects to them, they also fail to follow many of the normal “rules” of poetry. I think that’s where the value of free-verse poetry lies.

When rules can be broken, sometimes it allows emotion to flow more freely through poetry. Sometimes one word would rhyme in a poem, but another would get the point across much better. Many poets lean towards free verse as a way to allow them to express their thoughts in less of a constrained way, but I do believe this needs to be approached with thought. 

Although there is great value in the freedom this type of poetry affords, poets need to think carefully about their purpose. If a poet chooses free verse only because it’s a little easier with fewer restraints, often the emotional impact of the poem will fall flat regardless. Traditional metered poetry is called art for a reason - it takes skill to create. 

When considering the pros and cons of free verse, I believe its important to let the structure you choose to write in serve your message, and not the other way around. Both free verse and structured poetry have value - and both serve different purposes for different audiences and messages. 

Sometimes, the only way for me to truly communicate the ragged emotions I’m writing about is to drop all rhyme schemes. Other times, I need the structure to show off the depth of my prose. So yes - free verse is ‘real poetry’. It’s an art - but like every art, it can always withstand a little scrutiny and critique until it is perfected. 

(Photo credit to Jo Anaya on Unsplash)