"The Idea of Order atKey West" is written in both formal and free verse. It is a meditative poem, written in a relaxed iambic pentameter. This means that while most of the lines adhere to traditional formal patterns, some do not. For instance, the basic metrical pattern of the poem is iambic, meaning that each unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed one. Because this pattern resembles English speech most precisely, it is a common metrical device. Pentameter is a form of measure or feet, denoting five stresses per line. Iambic pentameter is the most common type of poetic form, and Stevens uses it brilliantly here. The regular limping rhythm he creates mimics the regularity of the rolling waves of the ocean. But like the ocean, Stevens' poem is not perfectly symmetrical. The lines do not possess a regular rhyming pattern, and they don't always...