Poems with no regular meter lack a consistent pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. This freedom allows poets to mirror natural speech, shift tone suddenly, or explore complex emotions. The lack of metrical constraint encourages experimentation, making it common in modern, confessional, or avant-garde poetry for raw expression.
‘The Silver Flask’ by John Montague recounts the poet’s family reunion and their journey to Ireland after twenty years to celebrate Christmas.
There is a prominent lack of regular meter in Montague’s poem. It is a loose combination of iambic pentameter and others. However, this allows the poet to adhere to the stream-of-consciousness technique, where the characters are portrayed in a realistic setting. The irregular meter also helps to maintain the flow of the poem and naturally includes literary devices like enjambment. The absence of a regular meter aligns perfectly with the upfront themes, such as the family reunion, the father’s celebratory mood, the mother’s complex emotions, etc.
‘Night Shift’ by Edward Dyson is a poem that examines the harsh living conditions of Australian miners in the nineteenth century.
Dyson deliberately avoids consistent metrical patterns to create authentic dialogue that captures the miners' colloquial expressions and complaints. This irregular meter mirrors the chaotic, unpredictable nature of mining work itself. The varied line lengths and stress patterns emphasize the spontaneous, realistic quality of the miners' conversations before the final tragedy.
Ted Hughes’ ‘The Other’ reflects on his bond with Sylvia Plath, exploring love, guilt, and their connection’s transformative power.
There is no regular meter in the poem. Hughes writes in free verse, allowing the rhythm to shift naturally with the speaker’s state of mind. This choice emphasizes emotional instability. The lack of metrical consistency supports a confessional tone, where each line unfolds with the weight of self-justification and quiet menace.
Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Valentine’ challenges conventional romance with an unexpected gift: an onion conveying honesty and genuine emotion.
In alignment with much of Duffy's other poetry, this poem is written without regular meter. This facilitates the message and tone of the text, as the wavering meter contributes to the speaker's sense of uncertainty and anxiety. While some lines contain a considerable number of syllables, there are monostiches and monosyllabic lines sprinkled throughout. This absence of meter is particularly effective in the lines which utilise imperative language, such as "Here" and "Take it". Notably, it reflects the speaker's hesitance when they effectively propose in the short line "if you like" which is preceded by a line with eight syllables.
Walcott uses the memory of his father and grandfather to trace the generational impact of colonialism on the Caribbean landscape.
While often noted for his formal mastery, Derek Walcott thoughtfully challenges strict adherence to traditional meter in his poem 'Verandah'. Instead of a rigid rhythmic pattern, the poem employs a more fluid, conversational cadence. This choice allows for the complex and often fragmented nature of colonial history and mixed identity to unfold organically. The shifting rhythms reflect the unsettled, "in-between" space of the verandah itself, representing a state that resists neat categorization or predictable progression.
‘English con Salsa’ is a lively poem that blends humor, culture, and language, celebrating bilingual identity and the everyday power of speaking with pride and personality.
Combined with the absence of rhyme, the lack of meter in this poem grants the speaker increased freedom with language as she oscillated between English and Spanish. However, the absence of meter does not prevent this poem from having a musical quality - in fact, the poem reads like a song crafted for learning as it is sung to the class. This musicality emphasises the liveliness of the poem, as the speaker teaches the class to celebrate language, culture, and expression.
‘Farmhand’ by James K. Baxter describes the lack of confidence a farmhand has regarding his appearance and relationship prospects.
The poem doesn’t follow a strict or consistent meter, but many lines move with a natural iambic rhythm: soft syllables followed by stronger ones. This gives the poem a steady, speech-like flow without sounding too formal. Some lines stretch longer, while others are short and punchy, which matches the emotional shifts of the farmhand’s thoughts. The mix of rhythm adds to the contrast between his physical confidence in farm work and his awkwardness in social settings. It feels grounded and unpolished, just like the man it describes.
You will see him light a cigarette
At the hall door careless, leaning his back
Against the wall, or telling some new joke
To a friend, or looking out into the secret night.
This poem delves into death, rebirth, and the endurance of suffering, drawing parallels to the biblical figure of Lazarus.
The meter in 'Lady Lazarus' is irregular and unpredictable, shifting between terse, staccato phrases and fluid, enjambed lines. This erratic rhythm underscores the speaker’s psychological instability and the fractured nature of her experiences. The disjointed pacing contributes to the sense of discomfort, aligning form with the poem’s confessional intensity.
‘The Imaginary Iceberg’ plays with notions of reality, fantasy, and beauty by describing the grandeur of the titular iceberg.
Although the first line of every stanza is written in iambic pentameter, the remaining lines do not follow any metrical structure. This symbolises the absence of boundaries in the human imagination, which is represented in this poem by the iceberg which towers over the speaker's ship. It also allows the poem to feel more sincere in its appreciation of the iceberg's natural beauty.
‘Exposure’ offers an in-depth view of life in the frosted winter of Northern France, where soldiers on duty would be left exposed to the elements.
Although the poem sometimes uses patterns that resemble iambic meter, it does not stick to a single rhythm throughout. The line lengths vary, and the stress pattern is often broken, which reflects the emotional stress and scattered thoughts of the soldiers. The irregular rhythm supports the tired and unstable mood of the poem. Because the poem avoids traditional structure to create this effect, and because it is widely recognized in literary studies, this earns a solid rating just under seventy.
Watching, we hear the mad gusts tugging on the wire,
Like twitching agonies of men among its brambles.
Northward, incessantly, the flickering gunnery rumbles,
‘The Perfect World’ describes what a speaker sees as an ideal way to live in order to take advantage of all that God has created.
There is no consistent beat or syllable count in this poem. Some lines are short and direct, while others stretch out with long, reflective phrases. The rhythm changes often, depending on what the speaker is trying to express. It feels more like someone speaking from the heart than someone following a strict pattern of sounds. This uneven flow fits the speaker’s emotional state and matches the poem’s honest, searching tone, which is why it fits this meter label best.
God of lost souls, thou who are lost amongst the gods, hear me:
Gentle Destiny that watchest over us, mad, wandering spirits, hear me:
‘Mirror’ by Sylvia Plath is told from a mirror’s perspective, giving an account of a woman’s experiences of looking into the mirror.
Plath’s ‘Mirror’ does not follow a regular meter. The lines are uneven in length, and there is no steady beat or pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. This free rhythm gives the poem a natural flow, like someone speaking their thoughts carefully and honestly. The lack of meter also supports the mirror’s claim that it reflects things just as they are. The poem is well-known, and this honest, unstructured rhythm suits its mood, making this a fitting score.
‘Once I Pass’d Through a Populous City’ looks at the nature of love, memory, and human connections, emphasising their value.
Without a regular meter, the first part of the poem features longer lines that share the threads of the speaker's thoughts. The shorter lines toward the end share specific memories of that time. This transition of meter allows the second half of the poem to feel more reflective and emotional, contrasting with the narrative nature of the first half. The speaker's change in meter indicates the emotional impact he feels at the end of the poem.
Once I pass'd through a populous city imprinting my brain for future use with its shows, architecture, customs, traditions, Yet now of all that city I remember only a woman I casually met there who detain'd me for love of me,
Dai’s ‘Small Towns and The River’ juxtaposes the impermanent nature of human existence with the perpetual flow of the river.
The poem uses no steady or predictable meter. The lines vary in length and rhythm, which makes the voice feel more relaxed and sincere. This choice gives the poet freedom to move between moments of quiet sadness and spiritual thought. It also mirrors how memories and emotions don’t always come in perfect order. Even without a fixed meter, the flow feels natural and fitting. The flexibility helps the tone feel genuine, so the poem earns a good rating for this element.
Paterson’s ‘A Ballad of Ducks’ uses wild storytelling to show how absurd it is to rely on ducks during a grasshopper plague.
Paterson's 'A Ballad of Ducks' has no regular meter. Decidedly so, as the nature of the poem (a folk ballad rendered by a farmer) demands flexibility. Paterson mixes iambic and anapestic feet mainly. Beyond this, there is not a lot about the meter that distinguishes it from other poems with irregular meter. Paterson relies on other aspects of the poem's form (like its narrative pacing) to make it stand out.
Our Poem Guides, PDFs, Study Tools, and Articles are created by a team of qualified poetry experts to provide an unparalleled in-depth look into poetry.
