Does poetry have to rhyme to be good?

Question

(The answer is no. But why?)

Answer 1

Many people have had the assumption from an early age that poetry is distinct from prose in that poetry is rhyming and metered, whereas prose is not. In a lot of cases, that definition holds true, but it misses the point of a lot of what poets do.

I like to think of poetry in the context of the larger concept of art. Compare it to painting, for example. Many painters paint realistic portraits of people, or a still life or a landscape, and that can be beautiful. They are taking pigments and putting them on canvas in such a way as to make an image that resonates with us. Poets do the same, only they use words as their medium, rather than paints. In the same way musicians do with sound, or sculptors do with clay, or dancers do with their bodies. But while some painters find portraits beautiful, and some poets find rhyme beautiful, other painters choose abstract forms, or surrealistic settings, or impressionistic areas of color, just as some poets use carefully chosen, non-rhyming words to craft their poems.

Take the works of e.e. cummings, for example. Whether you like his work or not, you can see that he did some interesting things with the language, by using words in ways that went against the conventional expectation of poetry at that time. It's similar to how Picasso used familiar things like basic shapes and recognizable forms, but presented them in a way that was jarring and unrealistic.

Think of some poems or song lyrics that you like. What is it you like about them? Is it the way they rhyme one word with another? If the answer is yes, that's fine; that's acompletely valid reason to appreciate a poem. But I suspect that it's more than that you like about them--such as the meaning of the words that resonates with you, or maybe something like the use of a simile or metaphor that is particularly appropriate that never would have occurred to you. And those things can still exist without the framework of rhyme or meter.

Poetry as a craft depends on a lot more than the ability to rhyme; it doesn't take much to pick words out of a rhyming dictionary. But good poetry, rhyming or not, is grounded in the artful use of words, and rhyming is only one of many tools that a poet can choose to use in his or her pursuit of a well-crafted poem.

Answer 2

Poetry is expressing an opinion or telling a story without actual complete sentences. It's easier to write a silly rhyming story, but even rhyming stories aren't necessarily good. If an author can tell a story or get a point across without rhyming, usually they have a pretty good poem, because they aren't messing up the story by trying to make it rhyme.

Answer 3

No, because poetry isn't about form or rhyming. It's about expressing your feelings. I personally like free verse poems the best.

Answer 4

Not at all. It is the words and the pictures they create and the feelings that they embrace.

However, for some reason I always write in rhyme

Answer 5

Sometimes when you over think things to make them rhyme the emotions lose their honestly because now instead o naturally putting down what you feel on paper without over analyzing it...you are taking it apart to make sure it rhymes.

Sincerity comes into play sometimes.

Answer 6

no and yes!
no: poems could be good without having to rhyme only if they have a certain meaning.
yes: it will send the reader a beautiful flow that seems as a song

Answer 7

When poetry rhymes, there is a cadence, a rhythm, a melody to the words, and it flows.
When the words flow, it is music to the brain.

Answer 8

That's like asking if a painting needs to have color to be good. The answer is no because the subject is far too complex to be confined to simple rules.

Answer 9

Yes. To be good poetry, it has to be poetry. To be poetry it has to rhyme. Otherwise it is prose.

Answer 10

absolutely not!

it has to come from the heart and soul to be great though!