Does anyone have a preference to poetry that rhymes versus free form? I always write with rhymes but they seem childish and it seems like the poems that don't rely on rhymes tend to be more mature and more affecting. They seem much better at telling a story and striking you in a deeper way.
Personally whenever I write poems I write rhyming ones. I tend to find it helps me with the flow and rhythm. I also prefer reading poems that rhyme. I don't really think it makes a difference though - it just sounds nicer to me. There are plenty of deep meaningful poems that rhyme just as there are plenty of free verse poems that to be honest are so well written and seem meaningless. I think its a matter of personal preference and I personally prefer rhyming ones. I think as well that there is a common misconception that free verse must be more meaningful but in my experience that's completely not true and the types of people that have those misconceptions tend to be the types of people who don't actually know anything about poetry.
I don't have a preference. Rhyme is a tool in the poet's toolkit, and the skilled poet will use it when it is the right tool but won't feel obliged to use it when it isn't. Yes, if rhyme is clumsily used it can turn a poem into doggerel, but if free-form is clumsily used then it can veer into prose (and the prose it veers into tends to be rambling). In between the two is blank verse, of course, which like any rhythmic device can be a bit thud-thud-thud if used clumsily. Poetry is really difficult to do effectively, so I wouldn't write off rhymed verse just because the examples you've read haven't worked for you. Look closely at the free-form verse you like and see whether it contains internal rhymes, initial rhymes, half rhymes and so on -- you might be surprised.
Most of the contemporary poems I've read have been without a strict rhyming pattern. Rhyme is something I think is very difficult to pull off. The rigid constraints of rhyme may be hard for some to implement in their poems. To answer your question, I don't have a preference either way, though I agree that some rhyming poetry can seem childish (especially if the rhyme is forced).
definitely not!... it takes a lot more skill to write a good rhymed poem than to just divide up lines of unrhymed wording to make it look like a poem... it also takes skill to write a good piece of blank verse, but rhyme too easily becomes doggerel in the hands of a less 'mature' poet... i've been a serious poet for many decades and i write both... to see what a great variety of forms can be utilized in both kinds, just browse the 'philosetry' section on my website...
Just to check: Do you find Auden's "Stop all the clocks", Hopkins's "The Windhover", Yeats's "An Irish Airman Forsees his Death", Arnold's "Dover Beach", Philip Larkin's "Church Going" and Plath's "Stillborn" seem "childish"?
There's a certain amount of stylistic choice, when deciding should poems rhyme or not. If you are writing poems and you find yourself forcing rhymes into them, maybe take a break from doing that for a while and try something else. Try different forms of rhyming, or try other effects such as alliteration, or rhyming that isn't end line rhyming. John Berryman is a good modern poet to start reading if you are really set on using rhyme, an extensive amount of poems he published took a specific format. Try reading some Frank O'Hara for someone who writes what might look more modern. Maybe that will help a bit.
I think what makes a poem mature or not is simply the content of the poem. I write by instinct. It comes out the way it wants to come out. Sometimes it comes out rhyming perfectly, and sometimes I have to tweak it, but honestly not that much. Sometimes I write free verse, but those come out instinctively as well. My poems sort of write themselves.
^very good post I used to be in a band and I wrote all the lyrics and I always tried to not make my rhymes corny. You know how you can kind of just tell they threw in that last verse in the stanza JUST to make it rhyme. I hate that and imo its very sloppy. If you want to make rhyme, make it flow with what you are describing. I usually use free verse when I am just doing most of the "filler" stuff, not that its not important, its just not the highlights. But usually when people speak or when something of signifigance occurs, i throw in some rhyme and repetition. Just dont overdo it. Good luck!
