I have no issues against end rhymes either, and I think learning the different forms of poetry, and using them, is important. But one shouldn't adhere too rigidly to these givens. As Vivek says, the trick is to bend the rules...It's nice if the first draft suggests a form. Then the challenge is to design the original idea to fit that form. Sometimes it works effortlessly, and sometimes it is a battle.
I mentioned the iambic pentameter somewhat tongue in cheek, it is so often quoted...English naturally follows an iambic pattern, pentameters or not, and that isn't always the rhythm for other languages.
Free verse...I have a horror of the kind of amateur writing (often seen posted in a certain daily) that is a mish-mash outpouring that has apparently undergone no revision of any kind. I don't call that poetry, free verse or otherwise. The implication is that free verse requires no scansion, no rhyme, nothing in fact. It might as well be prose chopped up, and often is, in the wrong hands. What about a new name for it?
I don't think poetry needs to be disussed in academic terms. There is an emotional reponse that is as important as the mechanics, in fact at the time of writing it is the beginning.
One can discuss a component of a poem that has pleased, or has jarred, in order to find out why it did so, but it sometimes sounds as if discussion has focused solely on the mechanics and ignored the thought.
As for the use of the word 'consort', forgive me, Vivek, but a consort is considerably more than a mistress, (which is what Laura Riding could have been termed), and in the same sentence I did say that she collaborated with him in many projects. What else would you have called her? At the expense of sounding testy, please check it out: the Duke of Edinburgh is called the Prince Consort (as was Queen Victoria's husband, Albert) and in no way can it be considered derogatory. In fact the term dignifies the relationship, and implies support and encouragement as opposed to being a mere appendage. I am sorry you thought it was otherwise.
I apologise for not mentioning ALL the poets who used end-lines. I had only referred to those included as examples of poets contemporary with Laura Riding in Adil Jussawala's presentation on Graves' love poetry, in which he had also commented on Graves' transition in later years from end-rhymed verse in fairly strict meter to a more fluid style. But of course you are right: there are many poets who have used, and still use rhyme-schemes.
Jane Bhandari
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