William Meredith began his writing career during a free verse revolution in American poetry. Many modernist and postmodernist poets, who favored free verse that didn’t abide by the constraints form demanded, were rejecting the structure that defined poetry for centuries. However, Meredith preferred to write in form. His main poetic influence was Robert Frost, another poet who straddled the line between modernism and formal poetry. Much like Frost, Meredith wrote in a style that combined elements of free verse and structured poetry. While most of Meredith’s work uses set structures or set rhythms, the language he uses is, as he put it, “a little nearer / the language of the tribe” (Herrington, Neva. “The Language of the Tribe: William Meredith’s Poetry.” Southwest Review, vol. 67, no. 1, winter 1982, p. 2.). This means Meredith consciously chose to write with language and speech patterns that resembled normal speech instead of writing in an academic style with elevated language and complex syntax.

In “Parents,” the element of structure isn’t necessarily rhythm or rhyme, but it is in the use of couplets. The poem uses 13 couplets to help anchor the rhythm and weight of the lines.