1. Free Verse Poetry

2. Free Verse Poetry
Free verse poetry is poetry that does not have a specific form, does not have to rhyme, and can be arranged in stanzas decided by the poet.

3. Free Verse Topics
Free verse poems should be written on a subject that is important to you.
Be sure to choose a meaningful topic
Don’t write about a general idea or topic; write about a specific, observable person, place, moment, time, object, animal, or experience.
This will create sensory language (imagery) and strong verbs.
Don’t write about summer; write about a summer memory.
Don’t write about sadness; write about a time you were sad.
Use your heart maps to begin to come up with topics

4. Hooks/ Begin Inside/Start in the Middle
This is the first line of your poem; think about “hooking” your reader and reeling in their attention, like a hook does to fish.
Begin inside.
Start your poem inside an experience, feeling, observation, or memory.
You don’t need to give your reader background information (who, what, where, when, why, etc.) that you provide in prose (regular sentence writing)
Go right into the moment!

5. The Power of “I” First person experiences need a person.
Put yourself in the poem- use the pronoun “I”
Give your readers someone to “be with” in the poem.
Make sure your “I” is present and is thinking, seeing, feeling, and acting.

6. Stanzas and Breaking Lines
Line breaks (when you end a line) usually happen when a reader might take a breath if reading aloud.
End your lines with a strong noun, verb, adjective, or adverb.
Don’t end on a weak word like “the” or “of”
Separate stanzas by ideas or changes in subject.
Consider how your poem looks on paper.
When you revise your work, use // to show that you want a new line to start.

7. Conclusions: End Strongly
The end of your poem is one of the most important parts; it is the last thing your reader will remember.
It should leave a reader with a feeling, idea, image, or question.
You might think about an echo structure: where you repeat important lines from earlier in the poem.
Make sure you experiment with different endings to find your best!

8. Use Repetition
Beware of ineffective repetition: a word repeated in too close proximity to no purpose or effect, and that sounds awkward.
Use effective repetition to stress any important word, phrase, idea, or theme; to move a poem; to build a poem’s momentum; to create cadence.
When you revise, read your poem with your ears and listen for its rhythms.