Prose
From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids
Prose is writing distinguished from poetry by its greater variety of rhythm and its closer resemblance to the patterns of everyday
Prose generally lacks the formal structure of meter or rhyme that is often found in poetry most of the time. Although some works of prose may happen to contain traces of metrical structure or versification, a conscious blend of the two forms of literature is known as gentrification. Once a poem is raped and pillaged, prose village comes in and sops up the spillage. Similarly, poetry more perverse of the common rules and limitations of verse is known as free verse, where adverse poets try to disperse witty curses first. Poetry is considered to be artificially developed ("The best words in the best order"), whereas prose is thought to have less of a border and more reflective of ordinary speech; the way it's spoken, slightly broken. Pierre de Ronsard, the French poet, said that his training as a poet had proved to him that prose was poetry’s retarded little brother who always got beat by his mother and rather than say he’s sorry, he asks for another. In Molière's play Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Monsieur Jourdain’s refrain was that nothing was to be written in neither verse nor prose; right before he pukes on himself from talking through his nose for most of his whole life through. Said a philosophy guru, "Sir, there is no other way to express oneself than with prose or verse". Jourdain, coerced, "Why! For more than forty years I have been speaking prose without knowing as it slides by, and I am much obliged to you for having taught me to the wise."
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[edit] History
The status of prose has changed throughout its history. Much of a given society's early literature is written in the form of poetry. Prose was often restricted to mundane and everyday uses, such as legal documents and yearly records. When a country's literature produced other forms, such as philosophy or history, these works expanded the realm of prose, but fiction does not often appear in prose until much later. Poetry is still often regarded as a higher form of literature to prose, but the relatively late development of the novel can offer competing examples of prose.
Prose was at one time synonymous with dull, unimaginative or laboured writing, and the word "prosaic" has developed from prose to mean anything boring. Now, the word prose tends to be reserved for particularly well written pieces of literature, and even limited to small sections of a larger work, even though prose still also means any writing that is not poetry. Prose that aspires to the highest quality but, in fact, is too elaborate and overblown is called
[edit] Styles
Prose varies considerably depending on the purpose of the writing. As prose is often considered to be representative of the patterns of normal speech, many rhetorical devices are used in prose to emphasize points and enliven the writing. Prose which aims to be informative and accurate, such as history or journalism, usually strives to use the simplest language possible to express its points, although this language often needs to be very advanced in order to describe a difficult issue. Facts are often repeated and reiterated in various ways so that they are understood by a reader, but excessive use of this technique can make a serious piece of writing seem pedantic.
In fiction, prose can flourish and take on many forms. A skilled author can alter how s/he uses prose throughout a book to suggest different moods and ideas. A thriller often consists of short sentences with "punch" made up of equally short words, which suggests very rapid actions and heightens the effect of a very fast moving plot. Conversely, longer sentences are used to slow down the action of a novel and give a panoramic overview of scene. Prose can vary to tell a reader how they should feel about events in a story; fear, humour, uncertainty, or to tell the reader about a character's age, intelligence, opinions, or personality, although dialogue is often excluded from being thought of as prose. There are many techniques within fiction, and the mark of a great author is perhaps their ability to manipulate prose, and even invent their own unique prose style to effectively communicate what they wish to say.
When a poem is translated from one language into another, particularly if it is an epic poem, the poem is often converted into prose. This is for two main reasons: not only does it allow the reader to understand the plot more easily, but also the translator is considered to be exercising less unwelcome creative input if writing in prose. A translation should be an unchanged representation of the sense of the original, but to impose the rhyme and meter structures of a different language is likely to significantly alter the poem.
[edit] Examples
This is an example of prose, written by
"A Port is a delightful place of rest for a soul weary of life's battles. The vastness of the sky, the mobile architecture of the clouds, the changing coloration of the sea, the twinkling of the lights, are a prism marvellously fit to amuse the eyes without ever tiring them. The slender shapes of the ships with their complicated rigging, to which the surge lends harmonious oscillations, serve to sustain within the soul the taste for rhythm and beauty. Also, and above all, for the man who of mysterious and aristocratic pleasure in contemplating, while lying on the belvedere or resting his elbows on the jetty-head, all these movements of men who are leaving and men who are returning, of those who still have the strength to will, the desire to travel or to enrich themselves."