Question

What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon.

Why does the author most likely use free verse for this stanza?
The long-line structure serves as an introduction to the narrative.
The long-line structure provides background for the allusion.
The long-line structure imitates stream-of-conscious thought.
The long-line structure allows for predictable rhyme schemes.

Answer 1

The long-line structure imitates stream-of-conscious thought.

Free verse and extended lines let the speaker mimic natural, flowing internal monologue (and echo Whitman’s cadences), so the stanza feels spontaneous and conversational rather than constrained by rhyme or formal meter.