Free verse (also known as vers libre) is a type of poetry in which there is no set meter or strict rhyme scheme. The poem is free from parameters and can follow a natural progression, often one that mimics the natural thought process.

One classic example of a free verse poem is Langston Hughes’s “Harlem,” also known as “Dream Deferred.” In the poem, the speaker questions what happens when a dream becomes deferred or postponed. A series of rhetorical questions highlight the possibilities of what might happen if someone allows a dream or goal to slip away.

Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

The poem compels the reader to tighten the grip on dreams, to prevent them from shriveling like a raisin or sagging like a burden.

The absence of a metrical pattern frees the reader to understand and relate to the poem’s meaning without having to decipher and sort through technical patterns. The simplicity of the poem follows a typical thought process: when one is troubled, one’s thoughts quickly move from one question to another, in an attempt to find the answer. Hughes wrote this poem to inspire people who were becoming disheartened by racial intolerance during the Civil Rights Movement. He urges everyone to stay true to their dreams by revealing the possible dangers of letting them go.