When a poet writes
a poem of corresponding lines and stanzas or in a form of which the
structural outline is decided by a definable law--as in the sonnet--he is
in effect obeying the impulse of the co-ordinating energy, and the use of
rhyme is another sign of obedience to the same impulse. It so happens
that this energy, next to the poetic energy, is the most impressive
and satisfying of all mental activities, and while poetry may exist
independently of it, the fact remains that it very rarely does so. A very
curious fallacy about this matter has sometimes obtained support. The
adherents of what is called free verse, not content, as they should
thankfully be, if they can achieve poetry in their chosen medium, are
sometimes tempted to claim that it is the peculiar virtue of their
manner--which, let me say it again, may be entirely admirable--that it
enables the structure of verse to keep in constant correspondence with
change of emotion. The notion is, of course, a very convenient one when you
wish to escape the very exacting conditions of formal control, and have not
the patience or capacity to understand their difficulties, and that it is
professed by many who do so wish is doubtless.
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