Free version, as the name implies, is free of rules; although, not entirely without rules. Words strung together must convey meaning to readers. What you believe to be your best work, may work for no one but you. I’ve fallen into this trap. Most of us want our poems to “sound” nice, be we also want to share their meaning with others. That’s the challenge. While the most popular type of poetry for new poets to write, I find they only get better when the poet understands the rules of other poetic forms. It goes back to the saying: it’s easy to break the rules well when you know what rules you’re breaking.
Pilot weeps, but his hands are clean.
And Death again infects us.
Who will weep with bloodied hands?
“Not I.” said we, “My hands are clean.”
I love breaking the rules when it comes to writing, but as you say you have to actually know them to do it effectively. I tend to stick to rhyming couplets with poetry
Debbie
I agree. I sometimes write free to get the thought down complete and later try to steer between the lines.