On Prose Poetry...

[TheChilly]

I was interested in learning about how to write some prose poetry (poetry using the art of prose).

How does it work as well as keeping the same impact of a work written in verse?

[Jack of Hearts]

At a certain point they become the same thing.





J

[Delta40]

I'm claiming ignorance on the prose poetry thing. I have posted in the past and it has been critiqued for being 'rather prosey' I get the distinct impression that some people like it and others don't.

seriously, are there rules about prose poetry or something?

[MystyrMystyry]

It's how the phrases are constructed

The over-use of cliche reads like prose, so you want to avoid that (though the occasional one is acceptable, and twisting and mangling them is preferable), as well as sloppy unmemorable expression which has as much 'zing' to it as the average laundry list

Just read some of the free-verse poems on Litnet and analyse why they sound good when spoken aloud


It's unfortunate that the term 'prose poetry' was coined because it's actually, obviously, a contradiction in terms, and allows poets to be lazy with their words

To me if a poem is too prosey it reads as a platitude (or series of them), and I'm not receiving enough challenge or incentive to try to understand or seek a deeper meaning to it

Basically write some crap about rabbits, and randomly chop it up mid-sentence by hitting your enter key - voila! Prose poetry!

[JCamilo]

Prose poetry (which is not contraditory, one is not the oposite of the other, and the english version is not even very accurate, it is should be just prose poems), is the breaking of stanzas format. It was a critic to a very normative form of poetry in france, they took it to extremes.

Then people discovered good prose always used poetic principles and there rather good prosaic poetry in the past, that unless the poet name it "this is a prose poem", one would call it a tale, a short story, etc and be just fine.

To write good prose poetry, you have obviously, write good prose. Go for Rimbaud or Baudelaire examples.

[L€lä RËmØ MÅðçÂ]

What is it exactly???

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

What is it exactly???

Personally, I've found it to be a bunch of BS. Prose, or poetry--pick a side, we're at war!