Accentual Verse

[Leanne]

In actual fact, most of the poetry I grew up reading -- outside of the British tradition -- was accentual. It adhered very strongly to the number of beats per line and that's how I learned to write. Despite studying poetry, I didn't feel any need to try out writing in iambic pentameter or any other strict meter until I was well into my 20s because what I was writing worked just fine. Now, I'm not saying that it was better, because I've definitely improved as a writer over the years, but it wasn't poor because it was accentual. Many fine poems, especially folk poems, have worked pretty damn well with their only measure being those drum beats. It most certainly is NOT just re-organising the line breaks.