VERSE

light versefree verse “vers libre”blank verseformal verse/closed form

Light Verse

Poetry on trivial, playful themes, written primarily to amuse and entertain, often involves the use of nonsense and wordplay.

These poems do not take themselves very seriously.Lewis Carroll (creator of Alice in Wonderland) wrote a lot of light verse).

Let’s listen to this YouTube of “Jabberwocky”

(Limericks & Double Dactyls are considered light verse)

Free Verse (Open Form)Avoids traditional patterns, length of the lines varies within one poem, no preset meter, may or may not rhyme.

A Noiseless Patient Spider by Walt Whitman

A noiseless patient spider,I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated,Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold,Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

Blank Verse

Non-rhymingIambic PentameterDramatic & un-dramatic subjects

Example from William Wordsworth:And now, with gleams of half-extinguished thought,With many recognitions dim and faint,And somewhat of a sad perplexity,The picture of the mind revives again;While here I stand, not only with the senseOf present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughtsThat in this moment there is life and foodFor future years. And so I dare to hope

Closed Form (Formal Verse)

Poetry written in specific and traditional patterns produced through rhyme, meter, line-length, and line grouping.

This includes: Ode EpitaphBallad CoupletSonnet VillanelleElegy LamentHymn DirgeEpic Sestina

etc… These are poems which follow rules.We will learn many Closed Forms soon!