The Frame

It seems that everyone so far has written their responses concerning "Verse That Is Free" so I'm going to be different and speak about the chapter "Some Given Forms."

Sometimes I feel that writing poetry in free verse is a display of laziness. In a society were every aspect is "instant," "on demand," and "faster than ever," we have allowed this mantra to worm its way into our writing style. Gone are the epics scribed in memorable verse, few are the sonnets penned in thoughtful meter. I think because of "organic" poetry, generalized poetry has become more mushy and of less substance. Just like how cameras have become so readily available to people of little experience with photography resulting in a flood of pictures with poor composition.

True, free verse does give us the freedom and flexibility to say more exactly what we want to say but often times amateur free verse results in a sloppy mess of oddly spaced sentences and single words.I myself am guilty of the easy way out. But...
"Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame."
— G. K. Chesterton (Don't ask me who this guy is. Obvious he was somebody. It was just a quote I remember seeing that I felt is entirely appropriate for my point). By choosing to construct your poem in meter or verse, you are forcing yourself to spend time analyzing and editing it. You are forced to view it through a microscope and not from your peripheral vision.