More on free verse poems (please read the previous posts first)

Now that I have shown you how to avoid the first mistake on free verse, we will move on.

Free verse does not have a set pattern of rhyme or rhythm. There are no rules about line length in free verse. Quite often the poet will break these words if they want to create a visual shape to support the poem's message, or feeling that the poet wishes the reader to experience. They may wish to put special emphasis on a word they have used so they will use that word a line to unto itself, or place it on the next line so the reader notices it or is surprised by the poet's use of the word . Often a poet will end a line because it feels right to them to do so. The poet chooses the length of each line and the length of the poem according to the message, or feeling they wish to communicate to their readers.

In short With free verse there are a lot of guidelines but no rules...

That being said, the second biggest mistake that people make is that they use statement phrases instead of descriptive phrases in the construction of their poetry. For example... " My love for you know no boundaries, it is all encompassing" while this may be true, it is hardly poetic. Instead I would chose something like "To speak the depths of my love for you, would be as to count the stars in the sky. I could speak a thousand lifetimes and still not not have have words enough to say what I feel" It conveys the same message but is more relatable because we have all seen the number of stars in the sky... make the reader "picture" your words.

The last piece of advice I have on free verse is harder to master. It is the use of ambiguous terms and language that portrays romance. Terms such as "would be as " instead of "would be like" and " To speak the depths of my love" instead of " To try to tell you how I feel". The phrasing of such romantic wording is not something that you use every day, thus it is more difficult to "acquire" as a poet... (notice I used "thus" and not "so"

A good thesaurus is a must for writers... and read some of the classics, there are so many. Any questions, please ask. Next post will be on Rhyming poetry.