What makes prose poetry

If you read this far, you should follow us:. Diffen LLC, n. Poetry vs. Comparison chart Differences — Similarities —. Prose vs. Poetry Definition Poetry noun the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts. Prose noun the ordinary form of spoken or written language, without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse.

Prose Poetry Prose poetry is poetry written in prose instead of using verse but preserving poetic qualities such as heightened imagery and emotional effects. Quoting Poetry vs Quoting Prose It is normal to quote prose texts by indenting the quotation if it will run more than four lines on the page this refers to from the left to the right margin, not to poetic lines. Follow Share Cite Authors. Share this comparison: If you read this far, you should follow us: "Poetry vs Prose.

Comments: Poetry vs Prose. Related Comparisons. Contribute to Diffen Edit or create new comparisons in your area of expertise. Join us for this workshop on creating powerful poems—poems that are clear and organized, fresh and moving, full of life. Join us for this six week nature writing course. Poetry is a powerful method for healing and happiness.

Write poems about gratitude and hope in our intimate, live-video writing circles, with instructor Susan Vespoli. Not sure how to start building a literary career? By the end of this course, you'll have tackled the author's bio, C. A helpful pattern in understanding prose vs. As such, prose writing tends to be linear: while a prosaic sentence can twist and turn, it tends to share clear information, generally in a logical order.

Again, exceptions exist, notably prose poetry : prose writing—writing with no line endings or defined rhythmic meter—that is highly musical and dense, and that is generally more impressionistic and multifaceted than most prose in the meanings it conveys. Sound good? To get a stronger feel for prose and further acquaint yourself with prose writing, take a look at the readings below. The articles below outline helpful practices for numerous kinds of prose writing, from flash fiction to the novel, focusing especially on the common ingredients of storytelling.

Poetry is the oldest literary form, predating the written word and therefore, prose by several millennia. Up until the printing press revolutionized the distribution of literature, poetry was the main form for storytellers, who used meter and rhythm to perform oral retellings of their work. So, what is poetry? Is there an agreed-upon artistic definition of poetry as a literary form?

Spoiler: No. Artistic definitions of poetry change from poetic movement to poetic movement—and from poet to poet. However, New Formalist poets work with poetry to distill and reflect emotion through form and meter: in other words, structure over emotion.

Rather, all poets must define these aims for themselves and write accordingly. Learning about poetry requires familiarizing yourself with what other poets have already done.

Whatever literary tradition you ascribe to, poetry has a clear job to be rich, musical, evocative. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you. Samuel Taylor Coleridge said this beautifully, and we can give him the last word in defining poetry.

Cool, right? The articles below outline helpful practices poetry writing, including deep dives on common literary devices in poetry and established poetry forms. They were nearly born on a bus, Estha and Rahel.

The car in which Baba, their father, was taking Ammu, their mother, to hospital in Shillong to have them, broke down on the winding tea-estate road in Assam. They abandoned the car and flagged down a crowded State Transport bus. That was before they were divorced and Ammu came back to live in Kerala. We are such stuff As dreams are made on; and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.

Having defined prose and poetry above, the reality is that they can be more similar than you might imagine. Scott Fitzgerald.

Below is some undeniably musical prose:. Things are like other things, which is the essence of literary devices. While some devices are unique to each form—poems have enjambment, prose can begin in media res —a successful piece of writing requires literary devices. Yes, some writing uses lofty and erudite language.

However, contemporary prose and poetry writers, from all eras, recognize the importance of speaking to their audience. Colloquial speech is one way of speaking to your audience. A colloquialism is a turn of phrase with a specific social and temporal context.

While fiction and nonfiction are the genres of prose, poetry also possesses a powerful narrative voice. Singular poems can tell grand stories, especially poetry in antiquity. Additionally, contemporary poetry collections often tell stories, just with less linearity.

In other words, writers should Show instead of Tell. All aids to memory. Sentences and paragraphs are borders for organizing thoughts and pauses between thoughts. I think of a prose poem as simply a poem written in sentences and paragraphs, rather than lines. It can be narrative. It can be dramatic. It can be lyrical. It can be scientific. It can be experimental.

It can be so many things, but if the language and structure stand out, rather than the information, description, dialogue, plot, then I think of it as a poem. But, of course, this can be endlessly debated. However, most definitions agree on the following features of prose poetry:. Consider these 4 examples of prose poetry. Originally published at Eastern Iowa Review.

Originally published in the Writers. I think of him as you and I lay under the trees, away from the rest of the group. You ask me to identify birds. Acorn woodpecker. Rock pigeon. Red-tailed hawk. But you knew that one. My parents celebrate fifty years this month. Not knowing is most intimate. Not once has anyone at this party asked me what I do.

I was prepared to answer honestly. How long did his wife wish to leave? They make these elaborate basket nests. I google a picture to show you.

You drift off into the screen. Was it sudden? I am glad he is a Zen master. Preparation for this unfathomable fall into the intimate unknown. Life without his companion. The ground, a grassy little teeter-totter. Reproduced from Poets. Baudelaire was one of the first Western writers to embrace the prose poetry form. You have to be always drunk. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk. And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again, drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is singing, everything that is speaking.

So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish. Stinging me—that pin. Caressing you—this curve.