What is the difference between blank verse and free verse? Blank verse does not follow iambic pentameter but free verse mostly follows iambic pentameter.
What is Verse?
The literary device verse denotes a single line of poetry. The term can also be used to refer to a stanza or other parts of poetry. Generally, the device is stated to encompass three possible meanings, namely a line of metrical writing, a stanza, or a piece written in meter.
What is Blank Verse?
Blank verse and free verse are very different styles of poetry, but neither one has regular end-line rhyme. Blank verse poetry is much older than free verse. It was introduced in England by the Earl of Surrey in approximately 1540. It became very popular during the 16th century; it is the principal poetic meter of Shakespeare and Milton’s writing, as well as of many other major works of the Renaissance. Blank verse was labeled “blank” because it did not rhyme.
Originally all blank verse was written in iambic pentameter, but today the term commonly refers to any regular or metrical unrhymed poetry. Blank verse poetry must adhere to a metrical pattern, whereas free verse poetry does not.
Robert Frost is a master of blank verse. In “The Death of a Hired Man” he uses blank verse with great efficiency to reproduce the casual tone of everyday conversation.
Blank verse is effective because it provides a rhythm which sounds like the lilt of everyday conversation. Blank verse reads as easily as normal prose, but with a concealed rhythm and structure which takes it far beyond any prose, into the realm of poetry.
For new poets, one risk with blank verse is that the meter will be too regular, and lines can become very monotonous. A good poet avoids this by adding extra syllables, by shifting accent, and by avoiding too many end-stopped lines. Another risk that threatens beginning poets in that their work, is that their poetic lines may become too loose or too formless. In that case, it will cease to be, in any true sense, a poem.
At its best blank verse poetry ought to consist of ten-syllable lines (usually iambic) with only enough variation in accent to prevent the reader from getting bored.
How to Identify Blank Verse?
The easiest way to see if a poem is written in blank verse is to simply count the syllables. If each line has a consistent number, then it’s written in blank verse.
How to Write Blank Verse?
For most students, writing poetry in iambic pentameter can be daunting. Before they attempt writing their own blank verse poetry, have students read blank verse from poets like Shakespeare, Milton, and Frost.
I also recommend having students write one line of poetry with ten syllables (or take one line of poetry that is not in iambic meter and convert it). They will need to modify words and word order to produce an unstressed-stressed rhythm pattern; so that every other syllable, beginning with the second syllable, reads with stress.
When students are ready, they will need to decide on a topic or theme for the poem. Then write their poem in iambic pentameter.
Nadine Smith, from Pen and The Pad, further advises poets to first copy “on a piece of paper, the iambic pentameter pattern. Leave spaces in between the stressed and unstressed symbols. Underneath write the first line of your poem, composing stressed words underneath stressed symbols and unstressed words under unstressed symbols, until you have written ten syllables. This forces you to structure your lines according to the rhythmic pattern as you write. Repeat this step for every line.”
What is Free Verse?
Free verse poetry became popular during the nineteenth century— especially in the United States and France. Like blank verse, free verse does not rhyme; unlike blank verse, however, free verse has no recognizable rhythm, i.e. no regular meter, and no stanza form. Free verse poetry frequently resembles prose in appearance, but unlike prose, it uses poetic language, images, and suggestion, emotion, and condensation, repetition. Bad free verse always emerges as little more than choppy prose, whereas good free verse has tremendous intensity.
Some of the best free verse known is found in the Bible. The Psalms and the Book of Job are great examples. Take Psalm 23, for example, written by King David.
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Even though there are earlier examples found in the scope of literature, Walt Whitman was the first person to experiment seriously with free verse poetry. His best efforts demonstrate the power of free verse; his “Song of Myself” is an early example of free verse that reflects the speaker’s nature of self-expression.
In modern poetry, William Carlos Williams, “This Is Just to Say” is one of the most famous examples of free verse in Anglophone literature. Part of the poem’s challenge to our idea of poetry is in its effective use of free verse, and it has been much copied and parodied since its 1934 publication. Later poets who used the form more consistently are Carl Sandburg, Amy Lowell, and Billy Collins.
To give another example, here is Billy Collins’ poem “Today.” This poem is a wonderful example of free verse. In it, Collins describes a spring day that he considers to be a perfect one. Starting with “If” the poem tells us what the situations or emotions are that will inspire the reader. Look at the way the lines of free verse seamlessly flow together.
If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze
that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house
and unlatch the door to the canary’s cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,
a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies
seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking
a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,
releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage
so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting
into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.
Free verse is a literary device that can be defined as poetry that is free from limitations of regular meter or rhythm and does not rhyme with fixed forms. Such poems are without rhythm and rhyme schemes, do not follow regular rhyme scheme rules, yet still provide artistic expression.
How to Write Free Verse?
First, decide on a topic or theme for your poem. Then write down some key words that relate to your chosen topic. Since you don’t need to worry about matching up words and rhyming them, you should be able to incorporate most of these words in your poem.
To bring life to your free verse poem, try to incorporate the five senses. You can devote one line to each sense or sprinkle them throughout. Use imagery or descriptive language to help the reader understand what scene or emotion your poem illustrates.
The last tip for writing free verse poetry is the most important and that is to edit, edit, edit. Brevity is key. Edit down your lines to only the most important or impactful diction. Make every single line and every single word counts.
So, let’s recap: both blank verse and free verse are free from rhyme scheme. But blank verse does have a consistent meter, usually iambic pentameter, that creates a du-DUM rhythm. Free verse, on the other hand, is free from both meter and rhyme; hence, it’s “free” from poetic limitations.
If you are looking for more engaging materials for teaching poetry, check out 40 Poetry Writing Prompts for Kids. I’d love to see your students’ free verse or blank verse poems, so have them use #teachingwithpoetry to share their poems with me @teachingwithpoetry.
