Which do you like better? Poems that rhyme or poems that do not rhyme?

Question

If poems that do not rhyme are "Free verse", then what are rhyming poems called?

Answer 1

Your first question about which I like best...tough call...it's like asking "do you like blondes or brunettes the best?" I like some of both, but that doesn't mean that I like all of one better than all of the other either. Rhyming poetry tends to be easier to remember (which is why most poems originally rhymed in the first place), so most of the quoted poems are those that rhyme...however, there are some very beautiful poems that don't rhyme that I like as well.

Not all unrhymed verse is "free verse"; haiku, tanka, open verse, and others, have a very strict structure, but do not rhyme. Other poems have internal rhyme, and unless you have a good ear, you might believe that they did "not" rhyme at all. Some poems have a rhymed pattern that is very complex, so much so that unless you have an outstanding memory, or a printed copy in front of you, you'd never guess there was any rhyming pattern at all. Some poems, such as Carmen Figuraturms (poems that physically look like the subject they're about) have structure, but are definately not free verse. Acrostics don't have any rhyme requirements, but the first word of each line spells a word when read top to bottom...so they too are not free verse. Open verse is not free verse because there are meter syntax considerations that must be met. "Free verse" means just what it says, "you're free to do anything you want, there are no rules, not format, just put words, punctuations, line breaks, etc., anywhere you wish to get your point across." Poems that rhyme fall into different classifications as well. Some are Sonnets, some are villanelles, terza rima, sestinas...the list goes on and on, and then there are those who don't fit any specific style, they just have a pattern of rhyme.

the one thing they all have in common is that they all attempt to create an image, a feeling, an understanding, that is more than the sum of the words themselves, and they are all called "poems".

hope this answers your question

Answer 2

Rhyme is okay if the poet can pull it off well. Exact rhyme can come out to be corny. Many of my early poems have corny rhyme. I prefer to write poems that don't rhyme or use very little slant rhyme.

Free verse poems can also rhyme by the way. There are a lot of form poems that rhyme, such as sonnets, sestinas, etc.

Answer 3

I like poems that are good and make you think. I wouldn't give a rat's rear-end about the wrapping, unless that wrapping augments the experience. I like the prize inside.


There are some rhyming poems that actually will stop you from reading the poem. There are others where you don't even realize they're rhymed until after you're finished reading them a second or third time.

Answer 4

I like rhyming verses in a poem
What is called free verses is not a poem
And what is not a poem would be prose
Between poem and prose I have to choose

Answer 5

I like poems that are well executed. There are more names than "free verse" for poems that don't rhyme and there are more names for "rhyming poems" than just "rhyming poems."
Each category has subsets.

For myself, a well done poem, even if I have to work at understanding it, is ok with me. Rhyme or not.

Answer 6

I like Poems that rhyme the best.

Answer 7

The poems I like best are the poems that speak to me. Although I tend to like narrative work along the lines of Philip Levine's poetry, in my own work I usually write unrhymed poetry. A poem should be like a seamless piece of cloth. If a poem is rhymed badly it disrupts the reading of it because the reader will second guess how the line will end, instead of allowing the poem to breathe, the poet intrudes him/herself into it. That being said, there are masters of rhyming poetry, such as Elizabeth Bishop, who write such startlingly good work that well, you live with their poems for years. If you are interested in this question in terms of your own work, my suggestion is to try both. Write free verse -- serious free verse that you might consider publishing if that is your desire -- but at the same time work on form poetry (such as villanelles, sonnets, and other types of rhymed work) that you will keep and learn from for your own growth as a poet. Best of luck.

Answer 8

I love all poems! They're great and variable and unexpected and can really be about anything and everything.

I wouldn't pick. If given the option, I would stay silent. As the others before me said, if it's a good poem, there's no way it SHOULD rhyme or not rhyme. It should just be worth reading and thinking over.

That's MY vote. :P

Answer 9

I don't really want to choose, because beautiful poems were and are written without rhymes (I always quote Paradise Lost) and I also enjoy poems that rhyme. As long as poems are well written, this is all that matters to me.

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Answer 10

I prefer poems which rhyme