PROSE comes from the Latin expression ‘Prosa Oratio’, which means straightforward or direct speech. Prose is a communicative style that uses grammatical structure, sentences, phrases, paragraphs, and follows a flow that is more analogous to verbal speech and communication. Most forms of writing and speaking are done in prose, including short stories, novels, journalism, academic writing, and regular conversations.
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POETIC PROSE is a melding of prose and poetry, and often employs a rhythmic structure that does not mimic common speech. And even though Poetic Prose employs various elements of prose, it also incorporates poetic techniques such as heightened emotional content, high frequency of metaphors, figurative language, and the juxtaposition of contrasting images.
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THE DESIGNATION ‘PROSE POETRY’ may appear at first as a contradiction. In its rawest self, the form appears as prose, reads poetically, and (though some do not adhere to this rule) lacks the line breaks associated with poetry, but uses the latter's fragmentation, compression, repetition, and rhyming. What Prose poetry and Poetry have in common are symbolism, metaphor, love of language, and figures of speech.
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HISTORICALLY, (even though prose passages (in poetic texts) can be found in early Biblical translations, and also in the ‘Lyrical Ballads’ of William Wordsworth) the form is often traced back to 19th century French Symbolists writers. The advent of the poetic prose form, in the work of Aloysius Bertrand, and Charles Baudelaire, marked a significant departure from the strict separation between the genres of prose and poetry at the time.
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THE POETIC PROSE FORM quickly spread to innovative literary circles in other countries…. Rainer Maria Rilke, and Franz Kafka in Germany, Jorge Luis Borges, Pablo Neruda, and Octavio Paz in Latin America; and also, William Carlos Williams and Gertrude Stein in the United States. Each of these groups of writers adapted the form, and then developed their own rules and restrictions, ultimately expanding the definitions of what Poetic Prose is.
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NONFICTIONAL PROSE is writing that is not based on a writer's imagination, but rather on factual and true accounts of real events. Examples include biographies, essays, newspapers, journals, magazines, and textbooks.
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FICTIONAL PROSE is a literary work that is wholly or partially imagined or theoretical. Examples are novels such as ‘The Mysterious Island’ by Jules Verne, ‘Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley, ‘Kidnapped’ by Robert Lewis Stevenson, ‘Dune’ by Frank Herbert, 'The Sea Wolf' by Jack London, 'The Lord of the Rings' by J.R.R. Tolkien, and 'Between the Cracks' by Richard L. Cederberg.
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HEROIC PROSE is a literary work that may be written down or recited, and often employs many of the formulaic expressions found in oral tradition that are passed down as legends, mythologies, fables, and parables.
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POETIC PROSE, (no line breaks) ‘PROSETRY’, and ‘POETIPROSE’ (line breaks) are hybrid forms that blend the elements of prose and poetry with a rich, distinctive, and singular use of language. Poetic Prose is a literary work that exhibits poetic qualities, using emotional effects, and heightened imagery. The form also uses poetic devices such as symbols, metaphors, parataxis, and unique expressions. Depending on the writer/poet's creative intentions, Poetic Prose can use the diverse applications of poetic line breaks for emphasis, for visual impact, or, in its most basic sense, allowing each line to touch the right margin of the page.
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4 EXAMPLES OF POETIC PROSE (without line breaks) …

From the Novel: ‘THE ISLAND OF MISSING TREES’ by Elif Shafak….
“If you are an artist in need of inspiration, a blue jacaranda or a sweetly scented mimosa could stir your imagination. For wisdom, try a beech; for intelligence, a pine; for bravery, a rowan; for generosity, a hazel; for joy, a juniper; and for when you need to learn to let go of what you cannot control, a birch with its white-silver bark, peeling and shedding layers like old skins. Then again, if it’s love you’re after, or love you have lost, come to the fig, always the fig….”
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From ‘BE DRUNK’, by Charles Baudelaire….
“You have to be always drunk. That's all there is to it…. it's the only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually drunk…. But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be drunk. 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 the wind, wave, star, bird, or 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."
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From ‘SPRING DAY’ by Amy Lowell
"Bath…. The day is fresh-washed and fair, and there is a smell of tulips and narcissus in the air. The sunshine pours in at the bathroom window and bores through the water in the bathtub in lathes and planes of greenish white. It cleaves the water into flaws like a jewel and cracks it to bright light. Little spots of sunshine lie on the surface of the water and dance, dance, and their reflections wobble deliciously over the ceiling; a stir of my finger sets them whirring, reeling. I move a foot, and the planes of light in the water jar. I lie back and laugh, and let the green-white water, the sun-flawed beryl water, flow over me. The day is almost too bright to bear, the green water covers me from the too bright day. I will lie here awhile and play with the water and the sunspots. The sky is blue and high. A crow flaps by the window, and there is a whiff of tulips and narcissus in the air."
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From 'COME QUICKLY MY LOVE’, by richard lloyd cederberg….
Mist was rolling in, moving from the sea to the land. Moisture-formed drops began refracting late afternoon sunlight; droplets like water-diamonds brooding on the grass, rock, and shrub.
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Alone today, she sat gazing out to sea, where – as the moisture moved around and beyond her, past ramshackle cottages, and broken fences, past apathy and neglect, past unplowed fields, past weed choked gardens and barren trees, past the withered lives of jaded dreamers and grief-stricken hearts – she envisioned her soon-coming love rejoicing.
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And how she longed for His arrival. For in her life - time after time - she’d known the creak of rusted hinges, forlorn cries echoing across the fields, brooding figures shambling trodden paths, the shouts of reprobates, and in the callous hearts of the masses, only bundles of dry sticks.
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And yet…
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Though her aching to feel more was bombarded daily by endless minatory impels - an ever-changing landscape, abject evil, and the cold-heartedness of so many - it was an unwavering devotion to her first love that exceeded her fear of being swept away. In her heart, she joyfully foresaw His glorious approach; an imminent nearness, when her Beloved would sweep her off her feet, and fulfill her every longing.
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“Come quickly my love,” She whispered.
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© richard lloyd cederberg.
8/2023
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‘PROSETRY’ is a word coined by author poet, Odin Roark. ‘POETIPROSE’ is a word coined by writer poet, Richard Lloyd Cederberg.