I have said for some years now that "good" "free verse" is not free verse at all. Many of my poetry friends have snorted at me over that statement. Not here though.
I still am not a big fan of Olds. Obviously, she is well accomplished and has lots to say. Does she deserve the dough? Yep.
Quote:
I have not, over the years, tried to write in a particular form, but when I look at my poems, I see that they have been written in four-beat lines (four strong accents, however many syllables the line has), with few end-stopped lines, and a lot of enjambment (the sentence pouring over the end of one line into the next). So I see myself as a formal poet: four-beat lines, and enjambment, and internal — rather than end-stopped — rhyme being my form. (I don't see myself as writing "free verse.") Sharon Olds
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