Free verse is a form of poetry which usually does not rhyme and, instead of having a fixed pattern of syllables or stressed beats in the lines, more closely follows the rhythms of natural speech. In the later nineteenth century, a group of French poets established the “Vers libre” movement, from which the English term “free verse” is a translation. However, the American poet, Walt Whitman (1819-1892) had already been writing poems in such a way and the English writer, Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) also sometimes used free verse (in Growing Old and Dover Beach, for example, although the latter does have some rhyming elements). So, what we may think of as a modern form of poetry has been written since Victorian times.

[Sources: Norton Anthology of English Literature; Britannica website; Wikipedia; website of the Poetry Foundation; Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, via website of the University of Pennsylvania]