Have just read a review of a new book about the letters of TS Eliot. This is published by Faber (of course!) and costs £60 so it won’t be finding a place on my bookshelves.
Interestingly Eliot comments that he regards free verse as merely notes for a poem, particularly the work of DH Lawrence. A little harsh I thought!
When I dabble in writing poetry, it is always free verse as I am more interested in the pictures that the words create rather than the structure. I do however take his point and free verse can seem a little sloppy and lazy. Slightly amusingly, the terrifying skill and competency that Eliot displays in work like The Wasteland and The Four Quartets does not mean that his words are any easier to understand.