Prose
noun
Writing or speech in its normal continuous form, without the rhythmic structure of poetry.
She wrote a page of beautiful prose about her childhood experiences.
Often appears as...
- prose writing
- prose form
Usage tips
Literary
noun
The routine or ordinary aspects of life.
After the excitement of the vacation, it was back to the boring prose of everyday life.
Often appears as...
- everyday prose
- boring prose
adjective
Plain or dull.
His clothing choices were prosaic and unimpressive.
Often appears as...
- prosaic style
- prosaic choices
Usage tips
Disapproving
noun
Writing or speech in its normal continuous form, without the rhythmic structure of poetry.
She wrote a page of beautiful prose about her childhood experiences.
Often appears as...
- prose writing
- prose form
Usage tips
Literary
noun
The routine or ordinary aspects of life.
After the excitement of the vacation, it was back to the boring prose of everyday life.
Often appears as...
- everyday prose
- boring prose
adjective
Plain or dull.
His clothing choices were prosaic and unimpressive.
Often appears as...
- prosaic style
- prosaic choices
Usage tips
Disapproving
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Not Poetry
Prose is the opposite of poetry; it does not require a specific structure or rhyme.
Novels are typically written in prose.
Pro Tip 2/3Everyday Language
Prose resembles ordinary spoken language, making it more relatable in daily communication.
Her emails are clear and concise, written in straightforward prose.
Pro Tip 3/3Expressive Variety
Prose can be just as expressive as poetry, using literary devices like metaphors and similes.
His prose was enriched with vivid images and colorful metaphors.
Pro Tip 1/3Not Poetry
Prose is the opposite of poetry; it does not require a specific structure or rhyme.
Novels are typically written in prose.
Pro Tip 2/3Everyday Language
Prose resembles ordinary spoken language, making it more relatable in daily communication.
Her emails are clear and concise, written in straightforward prose.
Pro Tip 3/3Expressive Variety
Prose can be just as expressive as poetry, using literary devices like metaphors and similes.
His prose was enriched with vivid images and colorful metaphors.
Pro Tip 1/3Not Poetry
Prose is the opposite of poetry; it does not require a specific structure or rhyme.
Novels are typically written in prose.
Pro Tip 2/3Everyday Language
Prose resembles ordinary spoken language, making it more relatable in daily communication.
Her emails are clear and concise, written in straightforward prose.
Pro Tip 3/3Expressive Variety
Prose can be just as expressive as poetry, using literary devices like metaphors and similes.
His prose was enriched with vivid images and colorful metaphors.
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Video examples
The reality constructed...
I've read this book nine times and to my mind is really the finest novel I've read that came out to the continent and you know that's all telling because there's amazing novels on this continent and more than anything is kind of what he set out to do this poet trying to write prose and saying oh this is what I
Video examples
Why should you read Toni...
and the ways in which some characters are actively avoiding the reality of their actions. But in other instances, the characters’ shifting memories align perfectly; capturing the collective trauma that haunts the story. Though "Beloved" touches on dark subjects, the book is also filled with beautiful prose,
Video examples
Why Shakespeare loved...
are written in regular prose. But if you read carefully, you'll notice that Shakespeare's characters turn to poetry, and iambic pentameter in particular, for many of the same reasons that we look to poetry in our own lives. Feeling passionate, introspective, or momentous.
Video examples
What makes a poem … a...
Poetry has a shape that we can usually recognize. Its line breaks help readers navigate the rhythms of a poem. But what if those line breaks disappeared? Would it lose its essence as a poem? Maybe not. Enter the prose poem. Prose poems use vivid images and wordplay
Video examples
Clay Shirky: How the...
Can we use them? Can we apply the techniques that worked here to this? T.S. Eliot once said, "One of the most momentous things that can happen to a culture is that they acquire a new form of prose." I think that's wrong, but --
Video examples
Why should you read...
where he spent most of his life writing theatre, poetry and prose. While Beckett had a lifelong love of language, he also made space for silence by incorporating gaps, pauses and moments of emptiness into his work.
Video examples
Mind-blowing stage...
And his call to convergence still resonates through most of what we're trying to make now. "Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted,
Video examples
How to write descriptivel...
Stage and screen engage some of our senses directly. We see and hear the interactions of the characters and the setting. But with prose fiction, all you have is static symbols on a contrasting background.
Video examples
Adam Nicolson: The King...
60s he said he was wanting a timeless prose in which archaism and hallowed associations were to be avoided and a sense of reality sought now the sense of
Video examples
Sir David Attenborough...
it's a great piece of prose and it contains a really profound truth that's worth pondering Harry
Video examples
The reality constructed...
I've read this book nine times and to my mind is really the finest novel I've read that came out to the continent and you know that's all telling because there's amazing novels on this continent and more than anything is kind of what he set out to do this poet trying to write prose and saying oh this is what I
Video examples
Why should you read Toni...
and the ways in which some characters are actively avoiding the reality of their actions. But in other instances, the characters’ shifting memories align perfectly; capturing the collective trauma that haunts the story. Though "Beloved" touches on dark subjects, the book is also filled with beautiful prose,
Video examples
Why Shakespeare loved...
are written in regular prose. But if you read carefully, you'll notice that Shakespeare's characters turn to poetry, and iambic pentameter in particular, for many of the same reasons that we look to poetry in our own lives. Feeling passionate, introspective, or momentous.
Video examples
What makes a poem … a...
Poetry has a shape that we can usually recognize. Its line breaks help readers navigate the rhythms of a poem. But what if those line breaks disappeared? Would it lose its essence as a poem? Maybe not. Enter the prose poem. Prose poems use vivid images and wordplay
Video examples
Clay Shirky: How the...
Can we use them? Can we apply the techniques that worked here to this? T.S. Eliot once said, "One of the most momentous things that can happen to a culture is that they acquire a new form of prose." I think that's wrong, but --
Video examples
Why should you read...
where he spent most of his life writing theatre, poetry and prose. While Beckett had a lifelong love of language, he also made space for silence by incorporating gaps, pauses and moments of emptiness into his work.
Video examples
Mind-blowing stage...
And his call to convergence still resonates through most of what we're trying to make now. "Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted,
Video examples
How to write descriptivel...
Stage and screen engage some of our senses directly. We see and hear the interactions of the characters and the setting. But with prose fiction, all you have is static symbols on a contrasting background.
Video examples
Adam Nicolson: The King...
60s he said he was wanting a timeless prose in which archaism and hallowed associations were to be avoided and a sense of reality sought now the sense of
Video examples
Sir David Attenborough...
it's a great piece of prose and it contains a really profound truth that's worth pondering Harry
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Julia Gillard
Australian Statesman
For a profession that holds dear both the ability to vivisect politicians in prose and the expectation that these carved-up subjects will not complain, the media is horribly thin-skinned and vengeance-seeking when on the receiving end of criticism.
Quote examples
Natalie Babbitt
American Writer
The first two books that I did by myself were long stories in verse. I knew I could do that because I'd written a lot in verse. But, verse stories are hard to sell, so my editor encouraged me to try writing in prose.
Quote examples
George Steiner
American Critic
The most important tribute any human being can pay to a poem or a piece of prose he or she really loves is to learn it by heart. Not by brain, by heart; the expression is vital.
Quote examples
Virginia Woolf
British Author
I want the concentration and the romance, and the worlds all glued together, fused, glowing: have no time to waste any more on prose.
Quote examples
Kevin Powers
American Writer
Poetry and prose are of equal importance to me as a reader, and there doesn't seem to be much difference in my own writing.
Quote examples
John M. Ford
American Writer
There are people who believe in an absolutely transparent prose; with every respect for clarity of expression, I don't.
Quote examples
Robert Creeley
American Poet
That poetry survived in its formal agencies finally, and that prose survived to get something said.
Quote examples
Nick Hornby
English Writer
I do not wish to produce prose that draws attention to itself, rather than the world it describes.
Quote examples
Joseph Brodsky
American Poet
Poetry isn't just different from prose, it's more important for the human species.
Quote examples
James Payn
English Novelist
And what holds good of verse holds infinitely better in respect to prose.
Quote examples
Julia Gillard
Australian Statesman
For a profession that holds dear both the ability to vivisect politicians in prose and the expectation that these carved-up subjects will not complain, the media is horribly thin-skinned and vengeance-seeking when on the receiving end of criticism.
Quote examples
Natalie Babbitt
American Writer
The first two books that I did by myself were long stories in verse. I knew I could do that because I'd written a lot in verse. But, verse stories are hard to sell, so my editor encouraged me to try writing in prose.
Quote examples
George Steiner
American Critic
The most important tribute any human being can pay to a poem or a piece of prose he or she really loves is to learn it by heart. Not by brain, by heart; the expression is vital.
Quote examples
Virginia Woolf
British Author
I want the concentration and the romance, and the worlds all glued together, fused, glowing: have no time to waste any more on prose.
Quote examples
Kevin Powers
American Writer
Poetry and prose are of equal importance to me as a reader, and there doesn't seem to be much difference in my own writing.
Quote examples
John M. Ford
American Writer
There are people who believe in an absolutely transparent prose; with every respect for clarity of expression, I don't.
Quote examples
Robert Creeley
American Poet
That poetry survived in its formal agencies finally, and that prose survived to get something said.
Quote examples
Nick Hornby
English Writer
I do not wish to produce prose that draws attention to itself, rather than the world it describes.
Quote examples
Joseph Brodsky
American Poet
Poetry isn't just different from prose, it's more important for the human species.
Quote examples
James Payn
English Novelist
And what holds good of verse holds infinitely better in respect to prose.
Example 1 of 10
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