What is free verse

At the time of compose a poem different types of verses can be used, which can be analyzed well according to the number of syllables that they compose them either according to the presence or absence of rhyme or the type of rhyme that exists in each composition lyric. The type of rhyme can alter the number of syllables in order to maintain a characteristic sound and beauty of texts written in verse.

In this lesson from a TEACHER we will study what is free verse, how it is used and, in addition, we will see some examples of different free verses in various poetic compositions. Keep reading!

According to him Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (DRAE), the free verse is that one "verse that is not subject to rhyme or to a fixed and determined meter". This type of verse is also called "loose verse", and refers to any verse that does not have a perfect rhyme or consonant (that is, those verses that share the rhyme of both vowel sounds and consonant sounds) or rhyme imperfect or assonance (that is, verses that rhyme only the final vowel sounds from the last stressed vowel of each of the they). It is for this reason that verses that are not linked to any other verse in the text through rhyme are called "free verses" since they are not linked to other verses.

However, free verses remain verses, that is, they are a constituent part of a poem and we should not confuse the absence of rhyme with a text written in prose, since, despite not rhyming with each other, we are still facing a poetry, with its characteristic musicality and rhythm.

Moreover, the free verses possess the characteristic of variability in terms of its structure and extension since, not being governed by rhyme, its extension does not depend on the metric. Thus, free verse arises as direct opposition to lyrical compositions such as the sonnet, with a fixed structure, since free verse gives the poet more metric freedom when expressing himself.

In this other lesson from a TEACHER we will discover the rhyme classes in a poem.

Thanks to the freedom that resides in the absence of rhyme, the free verse was especially used during the avant-garde era surrealist poets, due to the fact that this type of verse allowed these authors to express themselves more freedom, resorting to the use of rhetorical figures such as metaphor, very present throughout the literary avant-gardes Spanish.

The free verse fitted perfectly with the avant-garde ideal, which sought to break with the iron metric schemes of the past times, giving free rein to the freedom of creation.

In this other lesson from a TEACHER we will talk about the types of verses according to their syllables.

Next we will see some examples of free verse within poetry written in Spanish:

Free verse in a poem by Vicente Huidobro

On the snow you can hear the night slide

The song was falling from the trees

And behind the fog they shouted

With one look I lit my cigar

Every time I open my lips

I flood dude clouds the void

In the port

the masts are full of nests

and the wind

moan between the wings of the birds

The waves rock the dead ship

I on the shore whistling

I look at the star that smokes between my fingers.

Free verse in a poem by Luis Cernuda

There is no power except in God, in God only delight endures;

The strong sea is his arm, the happy light his smile.

Let the ambitious with his towering towers darken the earth;

Pasture will be from the hurricane, with dust and shadow confusing them.