25 February 2004. Some notes on the value of free verse because someone at the New-Poetry discussion group claimed it had none.

1. fresh (when it was first used)

2. allows lines to stop where they can be most expressive instead of where formal considerations require them to stop

3. allows greater compactness and clarity

4. causes concentrated effects to stand out due to the absence of competition from rhyme and meter

5. refreshes formal verse (i.e, gives infocipients a rest from formal verse, allowing their natural taste for it to revive)

6. forces those using it, because of its soon apparent limitations, either to return to formal verse or advance into the creation of new techniques, some of them of much greater value than rhyme and meter)