Free Form Poetry

Everyone likes to write free form poetry, but not everyone does it well. Sometimes, the problem is not so much the words you use, but rather the way in which you present them to the world.

Here are some general, but not so hard and fast, rules that I have come across when working with free form poetry. It has made even the most difficult pieces easier for me to understand, and helps to place the reader within the mind of the poet.

The shorter the line, the more emphasis you end up placing on each word within the line. A line of one word carries as much weight as a line of ten, so when you write in free form, a single word line, especially when that word is just one or two syllables, falls like a ton of bricks, and shakes your reader.

When reading free form, the major weight of the line is usually placed on the last syllable. It is the anchor for the line. In longer lines, the second most important word is the first one. This too should be used to your advantage.

When writing in longer lines, a large amount of weight is also placed upon the first word in the line. This can be used to great advantage, and place an enormous amount of weight on two words that follow each other by allowing the enjambment to fall between them.

Usually, when read aloud, the enjambment (break in the line) is observed with a slight pause. Not as long as the pause you would take with a comma, though. When you end a line with a comma, it increases the strength of the first syllable of the following line.

More to come in time…