POETRY VERSUS PROSE (MA ENGLISH)

• POETRY VERSUS PROSE (MA ENGLISH)

Let’s Imagine water flowing into an artificial lake. When that water reaches a high point, it overflows the dam. That’s poetry. The prose diverts the water into pipes for industrial processing long before it gets to the lake.

“Poetry is ordinary language raised to the Nth power. Poetry is boned with ideas, nerved and blooded with emotions, all held together by the delicate, tough skin of words.”

Poetry is a literature art form where the author elicits emotion or thought from the reader through metered writing.

"Coleridge" defined poetry as "the best words in the best order" and               prose as “ words in the best order.”

Prose encompasses most of the writing and speaking we engage in today. It is everything from novels to television/films and everything in between. Prose is simply a fancy literary term used to separate general writing from poetry or verse.

Prose is typically written in plain language, follows the standard rules of grammar and punctuation and is arranged in paragraphs. It often reflects ordinary speech patterns

Poetry can be differentiated most of the time from prose, which is language meant to convey meaning in a more expansive and less condensed way, frequently using more complete logical or narrative structures than poetry does. This does not necessarily imply that poetry is illogical, but rather that poetry is often created from the need to escape the logical, as well as expressing feelings and other expressions in a tight, condensed manner.

The major difference between prose and poetry is that prose is directed right to the consciousness of reader.  While lines of prose can be very beautiful, the basic role of prose is to inform.  Poetry, on the other hand, can exist on many levels, and mean many things, or in any specific way, nothing.

Prose has sentences arranged in paragraphs. The information presented is more pragmatic, many times, than in poetry. Sentences in paragraphs of prose follow each other, one after the other. The first word of each sentence is capitalized. Punctuation for both prose and poetry is the same. The first line of each paragraph is indented. The language of prose is straight forward, with less figurative language than poetry.

Poems look very different. They are written in lines which are often split into verses or stanzas. Each stanza is split into lines and each line is made up of a number of beats or syllables.

In any discussion of poetry vs. prose tools as meter, rhythm, rhyme, and format must come into play. Poetry is written in metre, whereas prose is not metrical. Poetry is often (not always) rhymed, whereas prose is not rhymed. Poetry has rhythm, like a song. Poetry has cadence, like a drum.

Both prose and poetry are means to express something. Prose should express, but not get in the way of, the something. Poetry should enlighten and enhance the something, by having it, and the way it is expressed, interact. Thus, in terms of subject alone, poetry can have more value than prose.

Poetry and prose are both forms of expression in writing. Being able to express the same thought and image in fewer words, choosing more carefully, etc., makes poetry more difficult to master than prose.

Poetry usually follows a set pattern, rhyme scheme and meter. It is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities. Prose is simply regular writing, like in a story, a letter, or regular speech. There are usually no patterns, just sentences and paragraphs.

Prose writing most often follows standard rules in grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and sentence structure. Poetry often doesn't, for expressive reasons, and every word, period, etc. is carefully chosen to say the most using the least words.

Prose is the language of everyday speech, or the writing medium that mimics it. Poetry is a more refined or structured or rhythmic form of prose.

There are many words which constitute the special diction of poetry. These are mostly the archaic(old-fashioned) words, for example, ‘vale’ is used for valley, ‘damsel’ for girl, ‘lad’ for boy, ‘lass’ for girl, ‘morn’ for morning, ‘eve’ for evening, ‘thou’ and ‘ye’ for you etc. Poetry should be " simple, sensuous, and passionate,' said Milton.

The poetic sentence is nervous, terse, and euphonious, and (very kind of inversion, elision, and departure from ordinary rule is used to make it musical and suggestive. Poetry conveys "maximal meaning in minimal wording".
Though bound to be musi­cal, and to excite pleasure, the poet is a chartered libertine in most other respects.

In spite of the freedom of treatment necessary in dramatic composition, Shakespeare maintains a clear distinction between poetry and prose. His servants and jesters always speak prose, and others also in light conversation, but the language of emotion and passion is invariably metrical. Brutus commences his famous speech to the populace after the murder of Caesar in plain, direct prose ; but as soon as he begins to declaim and appeal to the feelings of his hearers, his words run into verse. The eloquent art of Antony's speech is metrical throughout

Again, the two forms of literary composition differ with respect to their object; prose seeks for the most part to instruct, whereas the aim of the poet is to give pleasure.

Poetry involves a more free and frequent use of the imagery and figurative language to appeal the imagination of the reader.

Prose analyses, while poetry synthesizes an experience.

Poetry is more suggestive in nature than prose, whereas, prose is more logical and descriptive.

Poetry primarily appeals imagination and emotions, whereas, prose appeals our reason.

Poetry is a more ancient genre of literature than prose.

Poetry is usually written in a more elevated style.

Poetry is more personal and passionate in its manner than prose.

Poetry can use tricks of grammar and form , called poetic licenses, which are denied to good prose.

The main poetical forms are: lyric, ode, elegy, epic, sonnet and ballad; whereas, the main prose forms are: biography, history, essay. Some forms are common to both, such as, tragedy, comedy, satire, pastoral play, romance, masque and historical play.