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@sir-leeds and @anne-of-lothlorian

After reading my post above I don’t entirely agree with everything I said. You see, I think I have what could be called “sophomore syndrome” and “foot-in-mouth disease”: I have strong opinions that I don’t necessarily pause to think long about before I express them (strongly), and have a tendency to think I know everything there is to know. So forgive me for that. It is an area I am working on, and hope to conquer someday.

However, to answer some of your questions:
I agree that some of today’s literature (Christian and otherwise) is rather lackluster. And, @sir-leeds, I’d like to read your paper on the lack of authenticity of voice someday!
I would say that the heart of poetry is truth, and beauty is its soul. (If it rhymes or not is really beside the point.) What are y’all’s thoughts?

As for my statement about themes that do not belong in poetry, I think that if a theme in a poem is normal or ugly, without having some broader or deeper application that is extraordinary or beautiful, then it has no place in poetry, though perhaps it has a place elsewhere. (I hope that was as clear outside my head as it was inside…words have not been my friends lately.)

Now, free verse is not my preferred style of poetry, but that is certainly not to say that it’s illegitimate. If legitimacy were based on my likes and dislikes, the world would be a very shallow place indeed. Some free verse poetry can be moving, stirring, and heart-lifting, as poetry ought to be, and some traditional poems can be rude, blank, and repulsive.

@anne-of-lothlorian,

I can’t answer this question in the hypothetical. I’d have to see both poems in order to give my opinion. I would say that whichever is better poetry would be the winner. (obviously, lol).

No definition of poetry says anything about rhyming. My stress of rhyme is one of the things I have to take back from my original post. I enjoy rhyming poetry, but some of the greatest poetry ever written is un-rhymed, and some very bad verses are rhymed.