A couple of days ago, an acquaintance asked me whether poetry needs to rhyme. My response was that there is no necessity as regards the use of rhyming in poetry. Eliot’s The Wasteland springs to mind as a poem where free verse is employed throughout large portions of the work.
Most of my own poetry does utilise a rhyming scheme. I feel most comfortable expressing myself in rhyme. This does not, however mean that my poems rhyme throughout, (there is no point in sticking to a rigid rhyming scheme if by so doing the poet loses the sense of what he is trying to say. It is better to have a line which doesn’t rhyme than force one and thereby garble the essence of the poem).
I would, as always be interested in your views. Does poetry need to rhyme? And at what point does poetry become poetic prose or simple prose as opposed to poetry as it is usually construed?
Kevin
K Morris - Poet 
All I’ve got to say is
Even if the poem doesn’t rhyme
The readers don’t give a dime
The words maybe difficult like ‘orange’
Some idiot will still rhyme it with stonehenge
Butt poetic devices have their role too
Always allowing alliteration will make the poem easier to remember
Anthropomorphism will help the reader connect better
Imagery will help them visualize
Irony is difficult to actualize
Similes make me as intelligent as Einstein
Breaking the fourth wall really makes the character come alive
Lol. I should never try my keyboard at poetry.
Many thanks for your comment. Your response made me smile. Best, Kevin
Illuminating.
Thanks Tess. Kevin
You are welcome, Kevin.
So long as it is poetry from the heart…. It is good to go for me. Sometimes creativity works better outside known rules.
Many thanks for your comment. As you rightly say, ” Sometimes creativity works better outside known rules”. Do you have a view as to where prose ends and poetry begins? I must confess that there is, to my mind not always a clear dividing line between the two. Kevin
I grew up on rhyming verse… it sticks in the memory and I have a feeling that is why we invented rhyme in poetry, to use it as a teaching tool. On the other hand, free verse allows expression of things we might not otherwise have words for. I think it is the act of writing that matters more than the rhyme.
Poetry definitely doesn’t have to rhyme. Sometimes I’m writing a poem and I have to let the rhyme scheme go because I need to get out the words. But overall, I’m a formal list. And pay close attention to Rimes meter things like that when I write
Thanks for your comment Mark. I think you and I approach poetry composition in a similar manner. I also tend to utilise a formal structure but not to the extent that by so doing creativity suffers. Kevin
And there it is. My favorite formal us writing nowadays, our David Yazzie and Christian Wiman. Although wine and does whatever he needs to like us! 😉
If you’d like to read some of my poetry it’s here:
http://www.markgoodson.com/category/poetry
Thank you. I would indeed like to read some of your poetry and will take a look. Best, Kevin
Enlightening one…