Free Verse

Before reading Mary Oliver's chapter on free verse, I had a few preconceptions about what a free verse poem actually is. Firstly, I thought free verse poems was a poets way of writing when they were too lazy to actually make the words rhyme. Obviously I'm wrong with that thought. Secondly, well I really didn't have any other thoughts on free verse because I've never really understood them. This is why I chose to read Oliver's opinions and expert thoughts on what this kind of poetry is all about.

This relatively new type of poem has grown parallel with the modernization and switch to democracy of our culture. No longer are poets restricted by periods, strict rhythm, and stanzas that make structural sense. The exciting proposition of free verse poems is that poets are just as the name entails, free. Maybe it's not exactly that the poets is free, Oliver does accept that free verse poems have to look and feel like a poem. The poem can become "fluid" and "organic", straying away from the accepted view of poetry.

As Oliver uses examples and continues to convey her point of view of poetry and poems, I'm realizing more and more just how complex poetry can be. On the surface might be a ten word poem but by looking deeper and deeper into its meaning, that ten word poem can become extremely complex. The structure, sound, line length, stresses, punctuation, etc. all help to add dimension and mystery into poetry, part of the reason poems are so intriguing.