A Free Verse Poem as a rule, does not follow any rules of standard poetry forms. It owes its origins to the French Verse libre. A French weekly magazine called La Vogue started a trend during the late 19th century with a group of poets who were termed to create a £”counter romanticism”. Their creation is completely in the hands of the author. Rhyming, syllable count, punctuation, number of lines, number of stanzas, and line formation can be done anyway the author wants in order to convey the idea.
However, there are some who feel that it is only free form the strict metric structure. It has also been compared to playing tennis without the net. There is a requirement to keep the poetic lines true to form or even write a “beautiful prose”. There is no right or wrong way to create a Free Verse poem. Even though there are no requirements to use rhyming or metric structure for writing a Free Verse, a poet can use some to create a beautiful verse. It was described as creating a beautiful poem using the syllabic structure and rhyme without the encumbrances of verses. It was said, at least in French, that the free verse would speak to the ear and not the eye – meaning the cadence of the syllables would roll off the tongue from one sentence to the next with such a smooth step that it is invisible.
A famous example is Walt Whitman who used repetitive phrases and commas to give his verses a structure. Many were short pieces, such as Walter Whitman’s, A Glimpse;
‘A GLIMPSE, through an interstice caught,
Of a crowd of workmen and drivers in a bar-room, around the stove,
late of a winter night–And I unremark’d seated in a corner;
Of a youth who loves me, and whom I love, silently approaching, and
seating himself near, that he may hold me by the hand;
A long while, amid the noises of coming and going–of drinking and
oath and smutty jest,
There we two, content, happy in being together, speaking little,
perhaps not a word.’
Walt Whitman
My daughter, a veterinary surgeon, wrote a free verse after a day at work during this Covid19 pandemic and stress at working on the front line with scarce resources.
A Plea From the Cleaning Fairies*
‘Twas the dawn of the weekend shift, and the new team arrives,
Waving cheerfully in the car park, blinking sleepy eyes.
Keys jangling the locks, the shutters are opened,
Phones are off night mode, biochem machine unfrozen.
Moving through to hospital and the horrors are seen:
The bedding shelves are empty, the kennels unclean.
The laundry room overflowing, the dryer on the blink,
Few bins are lined, the dirty dental tray in the sink.
Mop heads lie grimy, there’s blood on the bin,
The Cleaning Fairies’ patience starts wearing slightly thin.
In these times of Covid, all our shifts are dreary,
But to leave disasters like that is getting a little weary.
Running about cleaning is never any fun,
But come on, Team Curiosity – it must be done!
Shamanthi Shankar
Here is one of my examples;
Homo sapiens
Someone once asked me to write a poem on ‘lesson on humanity.’ It got me thinking and realised that we are here only for a very short period and very few, if anyone remembers us after we are gone. Experts tell me that one is remembered at best for six months after death before memory starts to fade. But good deeds tend to live on much longer.
Do a good deed on this earth today, my man
You are on this earth but for a few moments
You are only a tenant in this world, my man
Make the best use of your precious moments.
You are remembered but only for a short period
But your good deeds will live on forever
Stay always happy with what you need
Don’t hanker after things you don’t need.
You are but only a passenger in this world
It’s not yours ever to rule or dictate
Treat it with a kind heart if you are bold
And love it with compassion so great.
You treat your fellow man always as your own
It’s with love and passion you make friends
Chase after money and power to drown
All the hard earned and coveted friends.
Money and power in plenty any one can earn
Empathy and compassion are not easy earned
Hate and jealousy is there for you to burn
Smile and laughter are the best earned.
Be strong for others always, my man
In your love for your fellow human being
Be strong for others always my man
In your efforts for your fellow human being.
Shankar Kashyap
shankarkashyap 