To make sense of "free verse" in theory or in practice, the study of prosody - the function of rhythm in poetry - must be revised and rethought. In Free Verse: An Essay on Prosody, Charles Hartman develops a theory of prosody that includes the most characteristic forms of twentieth-century poetry. Hartman examines nonmetrical verse, discusses the conventions that have emerged in the absence of meter, and shows how these conventions can work prosodically. By analyzing the work of Williams and Eliot - the prosodic masters among the early modernists - Hartman traces their influence on more contemporary poets. In his exploration of the means by which a poet controls the reader's temporal experience of poetry. Hartman presents an invaluable treatment of the concept of verse.