free verse

free verse

noun

Definition of FREE VERSE

: verse whose meter is irregular in some respect or whose rhythm is not metrical

First Known Use of FREE VERSE

1908

Other Literature Terms

apophasis, bathos, bildungsroman, bowdlerize, caesura, coda, doggerel, euphemism, poesy, prosody

Rhymes with FREE VERSE

adverse, amerce, asperse, averse, coerce, commerce, converse, cutpurse, disburse, disperse, diverse, dry nurse, immerse, inverse, Nez Percé, obverse, perverse, rehearse, reverse, scrub nurse, sesterce, submerse, transverse, traverse, wet nurse

free verse

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Poetry organized according to the cadences of speech and image patterns rather than according to a regular metrical scheme. Its rhythms are based on patterned elements such as sounds, words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs, rather than on the traditional units of metrical feet (see metrical foot). Free verse thus eliminates much of the artificiality and some of the aesthetic distance of poetic expression. It became current in English poetics in the early 20th century. See also prosody.