ordinary speech or writing that is not poetry

What is Prose? Definition, Examples of Prose

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Definition of prose: Prose is often defined as straightforward rather than poetic writing.

What is Prose?

When identifying a piece of writing as prose, the piece should be written in a typical, straightforward manner. It will follow grammatical structures rather than a meter or verse pattern.

Examples of Prose in Writing

Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City , is a work of nonfiction that utilizes prose when describing the effect the fair had on the local hospitals:

• “With so many people packed among the steam engines, giant rotating wheels, horse-drawn fire trucks, and rocketing bobsleds, the fair’s ambulances superintended by a doctor named Gentles were constantly delivering bruised, bloody, and overheated visitors to the exposition hospital.”

Mark Haddon also writes using prose in his novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time when his teenaged protagonist finds his neighbor’s murdered dog:

• “It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs. Shears’s house. Its eyes were closed. It looked as if it was running on its side, the way dogs run when they think they are chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or asleep. The dog was dead.”

Different Types of Prose

While prose can be broadly defined as straightforward writing that resembles everyday spoken word, there are categories that prose can be broken into: nonfiction, fictional, heroic, and poetry.

Nonfictional prose writings are pieces that are written that contain mostly facts but may contain pieces of fictional information for literary purposes. Many memoirs can be described as nonfictional prose because the writers often include fictional information to make their life stories more interesting for the readers.

Fictional prose is writing that is entirely made up by the authors such as in short stories or in novels. These are pieces such as J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series or Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

Heroic prose pieces are written or oral stories that follow the traditional structure used by oral expressionists such as Homer’s The Illiad and The Odyssey . Both of these pieces include such structures as an invocation to the Muses or epithets that are used in oral storytelling.

Prose in poetry refers to works that include large amounts of poetic devices such as imagery, alliteration, and rhythm but are still written in a straightforward manner rather than in verse form.

The Function of Prose

Prose is used when the writer wants to tell a story in a straightforward manner. It should be used when the writer wants their writing to resemble everyday speech.

Examples of Prose in Literature

Here are some examples of prose in literature:

Nonfictional prose can be found in Zora Neale Hurston’s autobiography Dust Tracks on a Road because the piece is told in a straightforward manner:

• “I was born in a Negro town. I do not mean by that the black back-side of an average town. Eatonville, Florida, is, and was at the time of my birth, a pure Negro town—charter, mayor, council, town marshal and all.”

Fictional prose is used in John Kennedy Toole’s only novel A Confederacy of Dunces :

• “ Ignatius himself was dressed comfortably and sensibly. The hunting cap prevented head colds. The voluminous tweed trousers were durable and permitted unusually free locomotion.”

Dramatic prose can be found in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare often uses prose in this play when servants talk to show their lack of education and has higher-class characters talk in verse form. Here a servant speaks:

• “Now I’ll tell you without asking: my master is the great rich Capulet; and if you be not of the house of Montagues, I pray, come and crush a cup of wine. Rest you merry!”

Define prose: Prose is writing that resembles everyday speech. It is straightforward, ordinary language rather than following a meter or rhythmic pattern like poetry.

Final example of prose:

Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem is written using the ordinary language found in prose:

• “It is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no others think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil.”

"Prose" -- Some Basic Definitions

• Prose is not poetry (verse) written with attention paid to rhythm, meter, rhyme, visual arrangement, etc.
• Prose uses standard sentences and paragraphs.

"Prose" -- The American Heritage College Dictionary

• Ordinary speech or writing, without metrical structure.
• Commonplace expression or quality.

"Prose" -- The Encarta World English Dictionary

• Language that is not poetry.
• Writing or speech in its normal continuous form, without the rhythmic or visual line structure of poetry.
• Ordinary style of expression.
• Writing or speech that is ordinary or matter-of-fact, without embellishment.

"Prose" -- A Handbook to Literature

• In its broadest sense the term is applied to all forms of written or spoken expression not having a regular rhythmic pattern. Prose is most often meant to designate a consciously shaped writing, not merely a listing of ideas or a catalog of objects. And, although good prose is like verse in having a rhythm, it is unlike verse in that this rhythm is not to be scanned by normal metrical schemes or marked by such devices of reiteration as free verse exploits. But a clear line between prose and poetry is difficult to draw. Some of the qualities of prose are: (1) It is without sustained rhythmic regularity; (2) it has some logical grammatical order, and its ideas are connectedly stated rather than merely listed; (3) it is characterized by style; (4) it will achieve a variety of expression through varied diction.

One Further Distinction of "Prose"

• Nonfiction Prose -- true, real, etc. -- examples: reports, analyses, evaluations, etc.
• Fiction Prose -- imaginative, made-up, etc. -- short stories, novels, plays, etc.

CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM # 1 -- "AIMS"

The Primary "Aims" (or Purposes, or Goals) for Writing

• To Express or Share
• To Persuade
• To Entertain

A Classification of Prose -- Based on the “Aims”

• Expressive Writing -- (a.k.a. "Personal")
• Referential Writing -- (a.k.a. “Informative” or “Expository”)
• Persuasive Writing -- (a.k.a. "Argumentative")
• Literary Writing -- (a.k.a. "Literature")

The Organizational Plan for The Writer's Presence (a textbook) -- The Aims

• Private Writing
• Personal Writing
• Expository Writing
• Argumentative Writing
• Fiction Writing

Our Class for 2007-2008 is Set Up Using This Framework

Note: Even though we are going to write three different kinds of essays, the "style" of writing we will be doing is called "Academic Writing" -- as opposed to "Creative Writing" or "Business Writing" or "Technical Writing" or "Journalism."

Follow this link to see the Table of Contents for our custom Mercury Reader for this class.

CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM # 2 -- "RHETORICAL MODES"

The Chief "Modes" or Types of Composition

• Description
• Argumentation

The "Modes" or Methods of Exposition

• Exemplification or Illustration
• Process Analysis
• Comparison and Contrast
• Cause-and-Effect Analysis
• Classification and Division (Analysis)

The Organizational Plan for Patterns for a Purpose (a textbook) -- The Rhetorical Modes

• Exemplification
• Classification and Division

CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM # 3 -- "GENRES"

(further organized by the "aims")

The Most Common “Genres” of Writing

Expressive / Private Writing (to express, to share):

Expressive / Personal Writing (to express, to share):

• Autobiography (narratives)
• Character Sketch
• Descriptions
• Reflective Essays
• Informal Essays
• Formal Essays

Referential / Expository / Informative Writing (to refer, to inform):

• Concept / Information Explanation Report -- e.g., a User’s Manual
• News Article
• Feature Article
• Literary Analysis
• Synthesis of Sources
• Explication
• Research Proposal
• Bibliography
• Literature Review
• Public Documents
• Personal Ads
• Observation Report

Argumentative / Persuasive Writing (to persuade):

• Position Paper
• Problem-Solution Proposal
• Evaluation / Review -- e.g., of a book, movie, concert, CD, car, etc.
• Literary Analysis / Interpretation / Critique
• Letter to the Editor
• Opinion Column
• Op.-Ed. Piece
• Causal Analysis
• Response Essay
• Argument Essay
• Advice Columns
• Movie Reviews
• Book Reviews

Literary (Fiction?) Writing (to entertain):

• Short-Short Story ("flash" and “sudden” fiction)
• Short Story
• Nouvelle or Novelette
• Short Novel
• Humor / Comedy
• Business letters
• Personal letters
• Thank-you notes
• Invitations
• Gossip columns
• Do-it-yourself (DIY) manuals
• Product information guides

The Organizational Plan for The St. Martin's Guide to Writing (a textbook) -- Aims / Genres

• Remembering Events
• Remembering People
• Writing Profiles
• Explaining a Concept
• Arguing a Position
• Proposing a Solution
• Justifying an Evaluation
• Speculating about Causes
• Interpreting Stories

The Organizational Plan for Reading Critically, Writing Well (a textbook) -- Aims / Genres

• Autobiography
• Observation
• Explaining Concepts
• Speculating About Causes or Effects
• Proposal to Solve a Problem

The Organizational Plan for The Call to Write (a textbook) -- Aims / Genres

• Commentaries

The Organizational Plan for The Norton Field Guide to Writing (a textbook) -- Academic Genres

• Writing a Literacy Narrative
• Analyzing a Text
• Reporting Information
• Annotated Bibliographies
• Evaluations
• Lab Reports
• Literary Analyses
• Reflections
• Reviews of Scholarly Literature
• Résumés and Application Letters

The Organizational Plan for Reading and Writing in the Academic Community (a textbook) -- Academic Genres

• Comparison / Contrast

Literary Devices

Literary devices, terms, and elements, definition of prose, common examples of prose, significance of prose in literature, examples of prose in literature.

I shall never be fool enough to turn knight-errant. For I see quite well that it’s not the fashion now to do as they did in the olden days when they say those famous knights roamed the world.

( Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes)

The ledge, where I placed my candle, had a few mildewed books piled up in one corner; and it was covered with writing scratched on the paint. This writing, however, was nothing but a name repeated in all kinds of characters, large and small—Catherine Earnshaw, here and there varied to Catherine Heathcliff, and then again to Catherine Linton. In vapid listlessness I leant my head against the window, and continued spelling over Catherine Earnshaw—Heathcliff—Linton, till my eyes closed; but they had not rested five minutes when a glare of white letters started from the dark, as vivid as spectres—the air swarmed with Catherines; and rousing myself to dispel the obtrusive name, I discovered my candle wick reclining on one of the antique volumes, and perfuming the place with an odour of roasted calf-skin.

( Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë)

“I never know you was so brave, Jim,” she went on comfortingly. “You is just like big mans; you wait for him lift his head and then you go for him. Ain’t you feel scared a bit? Now we take that snake home and show everybody. Nobody ain’t seen in this kawn-tree so big snake like you kill.”

Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton. Do not think I am very much impressed by that as a boxing title, but it meant a lot to Cohn. He cared nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it, but he learned it painfully and thoroughly to counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he had felt on being treated as a Jew at Princeton.

( The Sun also Rises by Ernest Hemingway)

Ernest Hemingway wrote his prose in a very direct and straightforward manner. This excerpt from  The Sun Also Rises demonstrates the directness in which he wrote–there is no subtlety to the narrator’s remark “Do not think I am very much impressed by that as a boxing title.”

The Lighthouse was then a silvery, misty-looking tower with a yellow eye, that opened suddenly, and softly in the evening. Now— James looked at the Lighthouse. He could see the white-washed rocks; the tower, stark and straight; he could see that it was barred with black and white; he could see windows in it; he could even see washing spread on the rocks to dry. So that was the Lighthouse, was it? No, the other was also the Lighthouse. For nothing was simply one thing. The other Lighthouse was true too.

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. . .ask what time it is and wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: “It is time to be drunk! 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.”

Test Your Knowledge of Prose

1. Choose the best prose definition from the following statements: A. A form of communicating that uses ordinary grammar and flow. B. A piece of literature with a rhythmic structure. C. A synonym for verse. [spoiler title=”Answer to Question #1″] Answer: A is the correct answer.[/spoiler]

Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove

A. It has a rhythmic structure. B. It contains rhymes. C. It does not use ordinary grammar. D. All of the above. [spoiler title=”Answer to Question #2″] Answer: D is the correct answer.[/spoiler]

You’re sad because you’re sad. It’s psychic. It’s the age. It’s chemical. Go see a shrink or take a pill, or hug your sadness like an eyeless doll you need to sleep.

“A Sad Child” B. 

I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it. I can pick up where I left off.

The Handmaid’s Tale C. 

No, they whisper. You own nothing. You were a visitor, time after time climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming. We never belonged to you. You never found us. It was always the other way round.

“The Moment” [spoiler title=”Answer to Question #3″] Answer: B is the correct answer.[/spoiler]

“Not ordinary speech, but extraordinary speech”: Robert Pinsky on John Milton and the American imagination

Home » Uncategorized » “Not ordinary speech, but extraordinary speech”: Robert Pinsky on John Milton and the American imagination

Milton’s man in America

“Great art is great not because it enters an academic curriculum, and neither is greatness affirmed by the awarding of prizes or titles. But  great  is not necessarily a vague term. It can indicate work that penetrates the shapes, feelings, ideas, and sounds of a culture, as in the cadences of speech. Sometimes that kind of penetration is so deep, so transforming, that it is nearly invisible, or barely acknowledged.” So writes Stanford poet (and friend)  Robert Pinsky , in “The American John Milton ,”  a  2008 article I just discovered in Slate.   Milton’s ideal “is not a poetry based on ordinary speech—which has been one Modernist slogan—but extraordinary speech.”

Two excerpts from the former U.S. poet laureate’s article :

Here is an interesting, continuing conflict in American writing and culture: the natural versus the expressionistic, or simplicity versus eccentricity, or plainness versus difficulty. American artists as different as Robert Frost and William Carlos Williams belong more or less in the “ordinary speech” category. On the other, “Miltonic” side of that division about word order in the mother tongue, consider the expressive eccentric Emily Dickinson , who in her magnificent poem 1068 (“Further in Summer Than the Birds”) writes this quatrain about the sounds of invisible insects in the summer fields:

Antiquest felt at Noon When August burning low Arise this spectral Canticle Repose to typify

In these lines, the natural and the mysterious become one, an effect arising not just from the words (“Canticle”) but also from their order.

I once heard the great American poet and iconoclast Allen Ginsberg recite Milton’s poem “Lycidas” by heart. Nearly every page of John Hollander ’s indispensable anthology  Nineteenth Century American Poetry  bears traces of that same poem. In Ginsberg’s published journals from the mid-’50s, he assigns himself the metrical task of writing blank verse (and succeeds with subject matter including his lover Peter Orlovsky ’s ass: “Let cockcrow crown the buttocks of my Pete,” another perfect pentameter).

By the way,  Derek Walcott   made his students memorize   “Lycidas” – so Ginsberg wasn’t alone. Read Robert Pinsky’s article in its entirety here .  

Tags: Allen Ginsberg , Emily Dickinson , John Milton , Robert Frost , Robert Pinsky , William Carlos Williams

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 4th, 2019 at 7:55 pm by Cynthia Haven and is filed under Uncategorized . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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