What is the name for a poem written without a rhyme scheme or meter?

• A. Free verse
• B. Meter
• C. Poetry
• D. Rhyme schemes

Answer: (A)

Poems written without a rhyme scheme or regular meter are called free verse. Free verse avoids a fixed metrical pattern and traditional end rhymes, instead using varying line lengths and rhythms that often mimic natural speech. This approach gives poets flexibility to focus on image, idea, and mood rather than fitting lines to a specific meter. The other terms don’t describe this lack of pattern: meter refers to a predictable rhythm pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables; poetry is simply the broad category for verse or poetic writing; rhyme schemes describe patterns of end rhymes. So free verse best captures the idea of a poem without a defined rhyme or meter.