Reading Poems that Rhyme

just a quick comment about poems that rhyme and those that don’t.

I know someone who has a hard time reading my poetry.  As a result, it has finally dawned on me why.  In order to properly read and appreciate rhyming poetry, you have to have a sense of musical rhythm as applied to the written word.  And although most people enjoy music, evidently not all people have a built in sense of rhythm.

I guess that’s why  free verse (poems that don’t rhyme) are popular.

Fortunately, rhythm is stuck in my head.  As a result, I need poems that rhyme.  That is not to say I don’t like prose, but if it doesn’t rhyme, it just isn’t poetry to me.

Well, that’s my theory!  What’s yours?

4 thoughts on “Reading Poems that Rhyme”

  1. I really enjoy the rhythm of rhyming poetry. I like the cadence and the pattern and how it clicks through my brain and/or rolls off my tongue. I very much enjoy the musical (and clever) aspect of it.

    But I also really enjoy free verse because of the imagery it creates. When I read free verse [that I like], it creates either a visual or emotional image in my mind that I enjoy — the putting together of thoughts/images/impressions that I had not before connected, or ones that I have experienced and enjoyed the outcome. Free verse is a quieter experience in my mind – more personal and definitely less musical.

    I would not put one type above the other……… just 2 different experiences. It’s amazing how many things can be done with words. It’s good to have options.

    1. I don’t particularly disagree with you, but I look upon free verse as simply prose that doesn’t follow the rules of grammar. To call it “poetry” essentially removes any limits to the definition of the word, and then the definition of the word “poetry” becomes rather useless, like so many other word definitions have become. Just call it free verse and leave it at that. Don’t call it poetry.

      Quite honestly, you don’t hear much free verse that covers all of the emotions of love, anger, sarcasm, humor, etc. that you hear in poems that rhyme. Generally it seems to be more centered on convincing the reader about the superiority of the writer, rather than the ideas of the writer.

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