Editing Free verse (section)

==Vers libre==
'''Vers libre''' is a free-verse poetic form of flexibility, complexity, and naturalness<ref>Hover, Richard  ''Poet in Town'' Interview with Boston Record Sept 1898</ref> created in the late 19th century in France, in 1886. It was largely through the activities of ''La Vogue'', a weekly journal founded by [[Gustave Kahn]],<ref name="autogenerated1914">Scott, Clive, Vers libre: the emergence of free verse in France, 1886-1914 Clarendon Press, Oxford {{ISBN|978-0-19-815159-3}}</ref> as well as the appearance of a band of poets unequaled at any one time in the history of French poetry.<ref>Hulme, T. E. Lecture on ''Modern Poetry'', Kensington Town Hall 1914</ref> Their style of poetry was dubbed "Counter-Romanticism" and it was led by [[Paul Verlaine|Verlaine]], [[Arthur Rimbaud|Rimbaud]], [[Stéphane Mallarmé|Mallarmé]], [[Jules Laforgue|Laforgue]] and [[Tristan Corbière|Corbière.]]<ref>Pratt, William,'' Introduction to The Influence of French Symbolism on Modern American Poetry'' by René Taupin, AMS Press Inc, New York 1985 {{ISBN|0-404-61579-1}}</ref> It was concerned with [[synesthesia|synaethesis]] (the harmony or equilibrium of sensation)<ref>I A Richards & C.K.Ogden ''The Foundations of Aesthetics'', Lear Publisher, New York 1925</ref> and later described as "the moment when French poetry began to take consciousness of itself as poetry."<ref>Maritain Jaques, ''The Situation of Poetry Now'', Philosophical Library, New York, 1955</ref> Gustave Kahn was commonly supposed to have invented the term vers libre and according to [[F. S. Flint]], he "was undoubtedly the first theorist of the technique(s)."<ref>Flint, F. S., ''Contemporary French Poetry'', The Poetry Review Aug 1912</ref> Later in 1912, Robert de Souza published his conclusion on the genre, voicing that<ref>de Souza, Robert, ''Du Rythme en Francais'', Welter, Paris 1912</ref> "A vers libre was possible which would keep all the essential characteristics of ''vers Classique'', but would free it from the encumbrances which usage had made appear indispensable."<ref name="autogenerated1986">Taupin, René, ''The Influence of French Symbolism on Modern American Poetry'' (1986),(trans William Pratt) AMS Studies in Modern Literature, {{ISBN|0-404-61579-1}}</ref> Thus the practice of vers libre was not the abandoning of pattern, but the creation of an original and complicated metrical form for each poem.<ref>Pondrom, Cryrena The Road from Paris, French Influence on English Poetry 1900-1920 Cambridge University Press 1974 {{ISBN|978-0-521-13119-3}}</ref>

The formal stimuli for vers libre were ''vers libéré'' (French verse of the late 19th century that liberated itself from classical rules of versification whilst observing the principle of isosyllabism and regular patterned rhyme) and ''vers libre Classique'' (a minor French genre of the 17th and 18th century which conformed to classic concepts, but in which lines of different length were irregularly and unpredictably combined) and ''vers Populaire'' (versification derived from oral aspects of popular song).<ref name="autogenerated1914"/> [[Remy de Gourmont]]'s ''Livre des Masques'' gave definition to the whole vers libre movement;<ref>Read, Herbert ''The Tenth Muse'' New York 1958</ref> he notes that there should arise, at regular intervals, a full and complete line, which reassures the ear and guides the rhythm.<ref>Remy de Gourmand, ''Le Probleme du Style'', Paris 1900</ref>

===Form and structure===
The unit of vers libre is not the foot, the number of the syllables, the quantity, or the line. The unit is the [[strophe]], which may be the whole poem or only a part. Each strophe is a complete circle.<ref>Lowes, John Livingston Conventions and Revolt in Poetry Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1919</ref> Vers libre is "verse-formal based upon [[Cadence (poetry)|cadence]] that allows the lines to flow as they will when read aloud by an intelligent reader."<ref>Lowell, Amy, Preface, Sword Blades, and Poppy Seed; North American Review for January 1917</ref>

Unrhymed [[Cadence (poetry)|cadence]] in vers libre is built upon "organic rhythm" or the rhythm of the speaking voice with its necessity for breathing, rather than upon a strict metrical system.<ref>Lowes, John Livingston  ''Conventions and Revolt in Poetry'' Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1919</ref> For vers libre addresses the ear, not the eye.<ref>de Souza Robert, ''Du Rythme en Francais'', Welter, Paris 1912</ref> Vers libre is liberated from traditional rules concerning meter, caesura, and line end stopping.<ref>Kahn, Gustave, ''Le Vers libre'', Paris, 1923 ASIN: B008XZTTY2</ref> Every syllable pronounced is of nearly equal value but is less strongly accented than in English; being less intense requires less discipline to mold the accents into the poem's rhythm.<ref name="autogenerated1986"/> This new technique, as defined by Kahn, consists of the denial of a regular number of syllables as the basis for versification; the length of the line is long and short, oscillating with images used by the poet following the contours of his or her thoughts and is free rather than regular.<ref>Hulme, T. E., ''Lecture on Modern Poetry'', Kensington Town Hall 1914</ref>

Although free verse requires no meter, rhyme, or other traditional poetic techniques, a poet can still use them to create some sense of structure. A clear example of this can be found in [[Walt Whitman]]'s poems, where he repeats certain phrases and uses commas to create both a rhythm and structure.

Pattern and discipline are to be found in good free verse: the internal pattern of sounds, the choice of exact words, and the effect of associations give free verse its beauty.<ref>Boulton, Marjories, ''Anatomy of Poetry'', Routledge&Kegan, London 1953</ref> With the [[Imagists]] free verse became a discipline and acquired status as a legitimate poetic form.<ref>Pratt, William. The Imagist Poem, Modern Poetry in Miniature (Story Line Press, 1963, expanded 2001). {{ISBN|1-58654-009-2}}.</ref> [[Herbert Read]], however, noted that "the Imagist [[Ezra Pound]] gave free verse its musical structure to an extent that paradoxically it was no longer free."<ref>Read, Herbert Ezra Pound, ''The Tenth Muse''. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1957</ref>

Unrestrained by traditional boundaries, the poet possesses more license to express and has more control over the development of the poem. This can allow for a more spontaneous and individualized poetic art product.

Technically, free verse has been described as spaced prose, a mosaic of verse and prose experience.<ref>Patterson, William Morrison, ''Rhythm of Prose'' (Preface 2nd edition) [[Columbia University Press]], 1916. [https://archive.org/stream/rhythmofproseexp00pattiala/rhythmofproseexp00pattiala_djvu.txt]</ref>