# Metered verse or free verse?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metered-verse-or-free-verse/341162>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 22, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metered-verse-or-free-verse/341162 "2006-01-22T22:31:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metered-verse-or-free-verse/341162/1 "2006-01-22T22:31:32Z")

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Preference?

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**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metered-verse-or-free-verse/341162/2 "2006-01-22T22:40:17Z")

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For reading or writing?

If I’m writing poetry, I’d much rather write free verse; I hate trying to fit the message I’ve got into words that rhyme and fit the meter. On the other hand, if I’m reading poetry, I really prefer a strict rhyme scheme and meter. It’s not complete hypocrisy; I like poetry with a meter because I appreciate how hard it is to write.

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**Author:** ![PerditaX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@PerditaX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PerditaX)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metered-verse-or-free-verse/341162/3 "2006-01-22T23:56:47Z")

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My votes goes to blank verse - unrhymed iambic pentameter. Rhyming is so hard in English that it’s tough to get the message across if you’re committed to strict rhyme. Blank verse is much more flexible, and sounds good. Everyone knows Shakespeare wrote in blank verse. So did Robert Frost. My favorite contemporary example? “The Lion in Winter!”

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**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metered-verse-or-free-verse/341162/4 "2006-01-23T03:16:50Z")

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Anything but free verse. Too easy for a talentless hack to spew from a pentip.

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**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2006, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metered-verse-or-free-verse/341162/5 "2006-01-23T05:10:44Z")

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You got that right, **ultraverse**.

I remember one hack who proclaimed, “I cannot stand metered verse! I do not wish to be limited by such artificial constraints!” No, dude. The contraints of meter are artistic, not artificial… and your so-called “free” verse was nothing but a bunch of stream of consciousness rambling.

If done properly, free verse can sound really good. Remember Sturgeon’s Law, though? Y’know, how 90% of everything is crap? When it comes to free verse, I think it’s more like 96%.