Photo by Mike Tinnion on Unsplash Modified by me Using Photoshop
Hi fellow poets of The Ink Well community. This is
@raj808 here to provide a spark of inspiration, lighting the candle of creativity to illuminate our little community through the power of poetry.
As the title implies
this is going to be
a free verse universal
expressive flight,
like a seagull
winging it's way
over estuary strands
of imagination.
Weave webs of imagery
and gossamer strands,
as you soar free
as a bird over lands
letting the pen
take over your hands.
© Rowan Joyce, all rights reserved.
After last week's exercise in form, which produced some exceptional ballads, I wanted to set everyone free with a challenge to write around the theme of freedom.
This challenge is as open ended as I could make it while still providing a prompt.
Free verse by its very definition is an act of freedom, an unleashing of the creative mind unfettered by the strict conventions of form.
My only piece of advice is that you consider that modern free verse poetry does have its own set of techniques that show that it is a poem and not just a paragraph of prose split up into verses.
Modern free verse poetry often replaces end of line rhymes with
internal rhymes which happen at different positions within a single line, or even between lines but don't stick to traditional convention of rhyming at the end of the line. For example, look at the words highlighted in bold from a section of my opening poem for this post:
As the title implies
this is going to be
a free verse universal
expressive flight
This is not to say you can't use end of line rhymes if you wish. Remember you're free to weave webs of imagery and gossamer strands, as you soar free as a bird over lands letting the pen take over your hands.
Another widely used technique in free verse is that of alliteration, which when used subtly, can create rhythm and depth of feeling.
Definition of alliteration: the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words.
Weave webs of imagery
and gossamer strands,
The above example shows classic alliteration in the repeated W consonant in weave webs and an example of sibilance between the S sounds in gossamer strands.
Definition: Sibilance is a more specific type of alliteration that relies on the repetition of soft consonant sounds in words to create a wooshing or hissing sound.
Source
These are just a few techniques that you could experiment with but above all with this challenge I want to inspire freedom; both as a theme, and in how you express yourself as a poet.
This could even extend to making a voice or video recording as I have experimented with myself in the past. Here is an example of a free verse poem that I wrote earlier this year, set to music and edited into a short film.
But don't feel the need to push yourself to making a video lol. I only show this as an example of the level of freedom of expression I'd love to see from all the poets at The Ink Well.
Literally... feel free in writing your free verse poem.
This challenge will run for seven days until next Thursday when I shall provide another poetic prompt and challenge.
I hope you guys have fun writing around the theme of 'freedom' and I look forward to reading all of your poems.
Thanks for reading.
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Thanks for all the tips and definitions. Had no idea about these "guidelines" in poetry and it's nice to learn these things.
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No worries fenngen.
I studied imaginative writing in university.... bleedin useless degree for getting a proper job but I'm very confident in my knowledge of what editors, literary agents and publishing houses look for in both fiction and poetry.
I'm glad that the explanation of techniques for free verse provided some value m8 :)
Hola, here's my entry for this week's contest.
Stay safe out there!
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Resteemed and enjoyed your insights. I have so much going on but if I can, I will put my mind and heart to verse.
Excellent. I'm looking forward to reading your poetic creations @wandrnrose7
If you have time of course, I understand how hectic life can get.
Glad you enjoyed the brief explanation of modern poetic devices, I try to keep these prompts fun but educational at the same time. Something that everyone can jump on board with, from the seasoned poet who understands much of what I'm saying, to the newer poet who might gain new insights from these explanations of potential techniques for crafting effective free verse 🙂
Well, I, for one learned something! Loved this post and and will continue to follow them!
I feel that this is a beautiful way to bring some particular things to note to poets. For example I love alliterations if you have noticed well and most of the time rhymes takes away the potency of a poem because we feel the need to fall into places we won't have in the first places. This is beautifully written. I could have written mine but it's Friday already
What a great essay on free verse. You clarified so many stylistic points that can guide writers (including me!).
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I'm in. 3 days to go. Got my thinking cap on.. or my feathers.
I love your post. I don´t have a good level of English.
Your explanations are very good for me.
Thanks for sharing, @theinkwell
here is mine
https://steempeak.com/hive-170798/@trucklife-family/freedom-the-inkwell-poetry-challenge