"All good poetry has meter"
That guy from that other site, who wrote the above, is wrong.
In terms of rhyme and meter, there are 3 types of poetry:
Verse poetry has both rhyme and meter.
Blank verse has meter but no rhyme.
Free verse has no rhyme and no meter.

Some of the greatest poets have written most, or even all of their poems,
in free verse; the type of poems that have no rhymes and no meter.
These are some of the most well known poets who have written
most of their poems in free verse:
Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Allen Ginsberg, William Carlos Williams,
William Blake, Carl Sandburg, T. S. Eliot,, Matthew Arnold and e. e. cummings.
Also, most, if not all, of the beat poets, who reached their peak of popularity
in the 1950s and 1960s, wrote in free verse.
In addition, most of the poets of the past half century have also written
primarily in the free verse style.

Also, that same guy from that site who said "All good poetry has meter"
also said "Great song lyrics, like good poetry, all have interesting meter."
But i have found that Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell , both of whom are
considered by many to be among the best lyricists, are the two songwriters
who most frequently have written at least parts of some of their songs
without a metrical scheme. These are the parts of their songs in which the words are
sung so quickly that it sounds more like they are speaking, or rapping, the
words instead of singing them.

The best example of this, that i can think of offhand, is Bob Dylan's
It's Alright Ma, (I'm Only Bleeding). There are parts of that song in which
Dylan will have a phrase that is NOT metrically related to the other phrases
in that song, but, instead, stands alone.

In other words, it is analagous to a drummer who suddenly does a drum fill
that does not seem to be related to the drum parts of the rest of the song,
but still sounds very interesting. I love it when Dylan does that, and Joni, less
frequently, also does that. I am merely differing in opinion from that guy
from the other site, whom Belladonna quoted, who implied that an interesting metrical
scheme is one that is repeated.

So, now that i've totally confused everyone, including myself, i think i'll just
inconspicuously slither away...

Last edited by ManInTwoSocks; 02/24/18 06:42 PM.
Matador is beautiful,a symphony of style
Excitement is ecstatic, passion places bets
Gracefully he bows to ovations that he gets
But the hands that are applauding are slippery with sweat
And saliva is falling from their smiles

Phil Ochs- Crucifixion