Prose - Wikipedia Prose From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Form of written or spoken language This article is about the language form. For legal term uses, see Pro se. For the American author, see Francine Prose. Main articles: Literature and Writing style Prose is a form of written (or spoken) language that usually exhibits a natural flow of speech and grammatical structure—an exception is the narrative device stream of consciousness. The word "prose" first appears in English in the 14th century. It is derived from the Old French prose, which in turn originates in the Latin expression prosa oratio (literally, straightforward or direct speech).[1] Works of philosophy, history, economics, etc., journalism, and most fiction (an exception is the verse novel), are examples of works written in prose. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the form has a regular structure, consisting verse based on metre and rhyme. However, developments in twentieth century literature, including free verse concrete poetry, and prose poetry, have led to the idea of poetry and prose as two ends on a spectrum. rather than firmly distinct from each other; the American poet T. S. Eliot noted, whereas "the distinction between verse and prose is clear, the distinction between poetry and prose is obscure";[2] Contents 1 History 2 Qualities 2.1 Types 3 References 4 Further reading 5 External links History[edit] History of literature by region or country General topics Basic topics Literary terms Criticism Theory Types Epic Novel Poetry Prose Romance Lists Books Authors Middle Eastern Ancient Sumerian Babylonian Egyptian Ancient Egyptian Hebrew Pahlavi Persian Arabic Israeli European Greek Latin Early Medieval Matter of Rome Matter of France Matter of Britain Medieval Renaissance Modern Structuralism Poststructuralism Deconstruction Modernism Postmodernism Post-colonialism Hypertexts North and South American American Canadian Mexican Jamaican Latin American Argentine Brazilian Colombian Cuban Peruvian Australasian Australian New Zealand Asian East / Southeast Chinese Japanese Korean Vietnamese Thai South Tamil Sanskrit Indian Pakistani Assamese Bengali Gujurati Hindi Kannada Kashmiri Malayalam Marathi Nepali Rajasthani Sindhi Telugu Urdu Indian writing in English African North Moroccan Sub-Saharan Nigerian South African Swahili Related topics History of science fiction List of years in literature Literature by country History of theatre History of ideas Intellectual history  Literature portal v t e This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2020) Further information: Chinese prose, Ancient Greek literature, Roman literature, Elizabethan literature § Prose, Augustan prose, Restoration literature § Prose genres, and Prose of the Ottoman Empire Latin was a major influence on the development of prose in many European countries. Especially important was the great Roman orator Cicero (106 – 43 BC).[3] It was the lingua franca among literate Europeans until quite recent times, and the great works of Descartes (1596 – 1650), Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626), and Baruch Spinoza (1632 – 1677) were published in Latin. Among the last important books written primarily in Latin prose were the works of Swedenborg (d. 1772), Linnaeus (d. 1778), Euler (d. 1783), Gauss (d. 1855), and Isaac Newton (d. 1727). Qualities[edit] Prose usually lacks the more formal metrical structure of the verses found in traditional poetry. It comprises full grammatical sentences (other than in stream of consciousness narrative), and paragraphs, whereas poetry often involves a metrical or rhyming scheme. Some works of prose make use of rhythm and verbal music. Verse is normally more systematic or formulaic, while prose is closer to both ordinary, and conversational speech. In Molière's play Le Bourgeois gentilhomme the character Monsieur Jourdain asked for something to be written in neither verse nor prose, to which a philosophy master replies: "there is no other way to express oneself than with prose or verse", for the simple reason being that "everything that is not prose is verse, and everything that is not verse is prose".[4] American novelist Truman Capote, in an interview, commented as follows on prose style: I believe a story can be wrecked by a faulty rhythm in a sentence— especially if it occurs toward the end—or a mistake in paragraphing, even punctuation. Henry James is the maestro of the semicolon. Hemingway is a first-rate paragrapher. From the point of view of ear, Virginia Woolf never wrote a bad sentence. I don't mean to imply that I successfully practice what I preach. I try, that's all.[5] Types[edit] See also: Prose types Many types of prose exist, which include that used on works of nonfiction, prose poem,[6] alliterative prose, and that found in works of fiction. A prose poem – is a composition in prose that has some of the qualities of a poem.[7] Haikai prose – combines haiku and prose. Prosimetrum – is a poetic composition which exploits a combination of prose and verse (metrum);[8] in particular, it is a text composed in alternating segments of prose and verse.[9] It is widely found in Western and Eastern literature.[9] Purple prose – is prose that is so extravagant, ornate, or flowery as to break the flow and draw excessive attention to itself.[10] References[edit] ^ "prose (n.)". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 19 January 2015. ^ Eliot T S 'Poetry & Prose: The Chapbook' Poetry Bookshop London 1921 ^ "Literature", Encyclopaedia Britannica. online ^ "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme". English translation accessible via Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 2010-01-31. ^ Hill, Pati. "Truman Capote, The Art of Fiction No. 17". The Paris Review. Spring-Summer 1957 (16). Retrieved 18 February 2015. ^ Lehman, David (2008). Great American Prose Poems. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 1439105111. ^ "Prose poem". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2012-05-27. ^ Braund, Susanna. "Prosimetrum". In Cancil, Hubert, and Helmuth Schneider, eds. Brill's New Pauly. Brill Online, 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2015. ^ a b Brogan, T.V.F. "Prosimetrum". In Green et al., pp. 1115–1116. ^ "A Word a Day – purple prose". Wordsmith.org. Retrieved 26 December 2014. Further reading[edit] 'Rhythm of Prose', William Morrison Patterson, Columbia University Press 1917 Kuiper, Kathleen (2011). Prose: Literary Terms and Concepts. The Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 1615304940. 244 pages. Shklovsky, Viktor (1991). Theory of Prose. Dalkey Archive Press. ISBN 0916583643. 216 pages. External links[edit] Look up prose in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Prose examples in Literature Portals Access related topics Literature portal Find out more on Wikipedia's Sister projects Media from Commons Data from Wikidata Authority control GND: 4047497-5 NDL: 00570094 NKC: ph115919 PLWABN: 9810638766605606 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Prose&oldid=1003232637" Categories: Prose Hidden categories: CS1: long volume value Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata Articles to be expanded from October 2020 All articles to be expanded Articles using small message boxes Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with NDL identifiers Wikipedia articles with NKC identifiers Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages Afrikaans Alemannisch العربية Aragonés অসমীয়া Asturianu Azərbaycanca Basa Bali বাংলা Башҡортса Беларуская Беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎ Български བོད་ཡིག Bosanski Brezhoneg Català Чӑвашла Cebuano Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Fiji Hindi Français Frysk Gàidhlig Galego 贛語 한국어 Հայերեն हिन्दी Hrvatski Ido Ilokano Bahasa Indonesia Íslenska Italiano עברית Jawa ಕನ್ನಡ Къарачай-малкъар ქართული Қазақша Kernowek Kiswahili Kreyòl ayisyen Kriyòl gwiyannen Кыргызча Latina Latviešu Lëtzebuergesch Lietuvių Limburgs Magyar Македонски മലയാളം مصرى Bahasa Melayu Монгол Nederlands नेपाल भाषा 日本語 Нохчийн Norsk bokmål Norsk nynorsk Occitan Oʻzbekcha/ўзбекча ਪੰਜਾਬੀ پنجابی پښتو Patois Piemontèis Polski Português Română Русиньскый Русский Shqip Sicilianu Simple English سنڌي Slovenčina Slovenščina کوردی Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Sunda Suomi Svenska Tagalog தமிழ் ไทย Тоҷикӣ Türkçe Українська اردو Vèneto Tiếng Việt Walon Winaray 吴语 ייִדיש 粵語 Žemaitėška 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 28 January 2021, at 01:09 (UTC). 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