Poetry vs. Prose
What is prose and what is poetry? Well, we hear both forms often in literature, but little do we know about their key differences. Contrary to what the majority of readers may say, it is still very important to discern how to distinguish one from the other, as much as it is important to know how to write or speak in the form of prose or poetry.
Poetry is art in itself. It is a rhythmical type of literary composition that usually serves to excite the readers. Either written down or spoken orally, poetry is characterized by an imaginative and attractive expression of one’s thoughts, usually in a elated manner. It is metrical, which means that poems are metered or structured. Poetry also observes a sense of pattern that puts into consideration the words that connect each other, either in terms of sound or original word meanings. That’s why readers often encounter rhyming words in poetry. These rhymes act, not just as mere ornaments, but also help convey the overall meaning of the piece. In addition, poetry is represented in lines, and not sentences, and that’s why one can quickly distinguish the lines one, two, and so forth, for the entire piece
On the other hand, prose is quite ordinary; no wonder it is regarded by many as the most typical language form. Because of this, prose is observed in many areas of writing, most especially in newspapers, magazines, and even encyclopedias.
It is very similar to poetry in the sense that it can either be written or spoken, but without the metered and structured quality of its counterpart. Prose is characterized by being simple, common and not that expressive. Often, it is even regarded by literary experts as a dull form of expression. It is more informal, and that’s why readers find it a little disorganized to read. There may be slight rhythm and repetitions in the prose, but these are not significant enough to be noticed. The sentence is also considered to be its basic unit, wherein there are no line breaks, like observed in poetry.
Overall, prose and poetry differ in the following aspects:
1. Poetry is more rhythmical, formal and metered in terms of structure compared to the more ordinary prose.
2. Poetry is more expressive and attractive as opposed to the usual dull quality of prose.
3. Lines are considered to be the basic units of poetry, whereas sentences fill the exact same role in the case of prose.
4. Generally, poetry often has some rhymes and relationships between its words as opposed to their absence in prose.
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Thanks!
I was helped by this page in answering my assignment in literature.
Our library was not yet open for students use.
they say they are readying and doing sort of stuffs before letting us use it.
it might open next week. too bad we need to answer these questions for tomorrow.
so i’m really thankful to found this page 🙂
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maraming salamat po sa mga taong nakaimbento nito dahil dito mas napadali ang pag aaral ku sa literature =)
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thanks you! so much. 😡
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Thank you for the giving me the clear picture between Poetry and its counterpart prose.
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Thank u very much…
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I am glad to read your referencies, and now I can know what is the difference between these words that are prose and poem,
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Thanks for giving me a clear understanding of Prose and Poetry. Now I have a good understanding of the difference between them.
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This seems to be very biased.. It is not an objective comparison. It only tells how the writer of this article feels about the quality of poetry vs prose, not what are the objective, definite characteristics that differ between the two.
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I agree with you, read Khalil Gibran’s prose to see a very special link to poetry.
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“Prose is characterized by being simple, common and not that expressive. Often, it is even regarded by literary experts as a dull form of expression.”
What a silly article! What qualifies this writer to hold him/herself up as an expert. The best prose is every bit as expressive and beautiful as the best poetry. Get over the notion that poetry is a superior form of artistic expression. The article is elitism at its very worst.
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We use words to talk and think (usually) in poetry but live in a world of prose. Prose is the hard reality of facts while poetry is composed of emotions and impressions. The product of the Wish of what we would like to believe.
There is no hard line between the two. There are times one masquerades as the other. Poetry written as sentences and prose written as lines. For me, the world is poetic because I bring to the world my past impressions and emotions and see this world through the prism of those experiences
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Send me English tenses & Grammar
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As a dyslexic reading poetry is difficult to retain the rhythm and therefore I loose some of the essence of the work, whereas, prose scans better and I can understand the meaning of the sentence with to much rereading the work.
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