# What is the difference between poetry and prose? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 22, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365 "2014-06-22T15:47:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/1 "2014-06-22T15:47:11Z")
Hi What is the difference between poetry and prose? I’m asking because it is hard to distinguish. I know the format is different. But other than that it is at times difficult to tell. Prose has rhythm too. So what is there to distinguish it from poetry? I look forward to your feedback. davidmich ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/2 "2014-06-22T16:07:01Z")
May be the toughest question concerning language and writing. There will be violations of any rule you hear, but as a general statement, prose appeals more or less directly to your understanding of the _meanings_ of words and their ability to express opinions, facts, and intellectual explorations. Poetry is more likely to rely on _feelings_ and emotional appeals than outright _meanings_. It will take no real effort to find counter-examples of both of these generalities. There is poetry that’s almost totally there to present facts and intellectual content just as there is prose with very image-oriented word choices and “flowery” expressions. If you believel the writer is trying to affect your thoughts, it’s most likely prose. If the writer is after getting you to _feel_ a certain way, it’s probably poetry. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/3 "2014-06-22T16:28:12Z")
Since this is about writing, let’s move it to Cafe Society. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/4 "2014-06-22T16:30:48Z")
> [@](#): > > When you write in prose, you cook the rice. When you write poetry, you turn rice into rice wine. Cooked rice doesn’t change its shape, but rice wine changes both in quality and shape. Cooked rice makes one full so one can live out one’s life span . . . wine, on the other hand, makes one drunk, makes the sad happy, and the happy sad. Its effect is sublimely beyond explanation. - Wu Qiao > [@](#): > > Prose and poetry are two sides of the same coin. Both of them communicate ideas, and both of them can be written beautifully. But the essential purpose of prose is to communicate ideas, and the essential purpose of poetry is to move us with the beauty of its crafted language, and in this distinction the two diverge. Prose is communication; poetry is art. When a reader is moved by prose, he is moved primarily by its meaning. Of course, the distinction between poetry and prose can be blurred. Prose can be written with extra attention to its beauty, in which case it is called “poetic prose”; and poetry can be written with less attention to its sound, in which case it is called “prosaic poetry”. But the essential distinction remains. - Caleb Murdock > [@](#): > > The poet gives us his essence, but prose takes the mold of the body and mind. - Virginia Woolf > [@](#): > > Poetry is a beautiful way of spoiling prose, and the laborious art of exchanging plain sense for harmony. - Horace Walpole > [@](#): > > I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry: that is, Prose is words in their best order; Poetry, the best words in the best order. - Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Poetry v. prose There are too many answers The question is wrong ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/5 "2014-06-22T16:37:34Z")
Poetry rhymes. Except when it doesn’t. Hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/6 "2014-06-22T16:40:40Z")
A poet I know likes to say, “a jagged right margin.” Works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/7 "2014-06-22T16:46:41Z")
I hope this parallel may be a bit more than just “humorous”: Q: What’s the difference in a violin and a fiddle? A: A violin has strings; a fiddle has strangs. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/8 "2014-06-22T17:05:02Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Poetry rhymes. Except when it doesn’t. > > Hope this helps. I would expand the facetious response a little more and substitute “is concerned more with the sounds and rhythms of language” for “rhymes,” but that’s not a satisfying answer, either, as your second sentence would also apply, and there’s plenty of prose that is “poetic” in this sense. But, generally, I think of poetry like that, also having a more compact and compressed nature, and being more concerned with imagery, impressions, and the “feel” of words to their literal meaning. A bit like representational art vs abstract art, I suppose. But that’s not quite it, either. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/9 "2014-06-22T17:50:50Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > A poet I know likes to say, “a jagged right margin.” Works for me. I don’t know if that view is justified. ---
**Author:** ![Humble\_Servant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/47e85d/32.png) [@Humble\_Servant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Humble_Servant)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/10 "2014-06-22T18:10:46Z")
Because You Asked about the Line between Prose and Poetry by Howard Nemerov ``` Sparrows were feeding in a freezing drizzle That while you watched turned into pieces of snow Riding a gradient invisible From silver aslant to random, white, and slow. There came a moment that you couldn't tell. And then they clearly flew instead of fell. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/11 "2014-06-22T19:31:13Z")
The definition I use is that poetry is writing which is constrained by something other than the meanings of the words. Many forms of constraint are possible, such as rhyme, alliteration, or a particular meter. Even those paragraphs written entirely without the letter E, or the like, are a form of poetry. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/12 "2014-06-22T20:10:51Z")
For me, prose is writing that is, at heart, trying to convey a meaning through the use of the meanings of words. Poetry is writing that is, at heart, trying to convey a meaning through the use of the meanings of words plus something else. It’s an imperfect definition because prose does much more than just rely on the meanings of words. When we find good pieces of rhetoric and look closely at them, we see that they are more than the sum of their word-meanings. There is connotation and rhythm and repetition and the alliteration and every poetic trick in the book being used in prose. Including rhyme. Including short lines. Including image-filled language that drops meaning into your head by the sheer wonder of the words and the sounds. But usually, there will be something about a poem that identifies it as a poem: some sense of structure or image or wordplay that makes you think “This is not an attempt to convey the plain meaning of these words.” And that’s a poem. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/13 "2014-06-22T20:43:39Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > … > But usually, there will be something about a poem that identifies it as a poem: some sense of structure or image or wordplay that makes you think “This is not an attempt to convey the plain meaning of these words.” And that’s a poem. “A poem should not mean But be.” ―Archibald MacLeish ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/14 "2014-06-22T20:57:40Z")
A piece of Prose is to a Poem as a Speech is to Music. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/15 "2014-06-22T21:15:23Z")
You write prose. You then take that and remove enough content to make it a puzzle to read, and you have poetry. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/16 "2014-06-22T22:56:46Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > I don’t know if that view is justified. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/17 "2014-06-22T23:05:18Z")
Prose is justified right. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2014, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/18 "2014-06-22T23:09:23Z")
I don’t think it really matters. Anything well-written usually has elements of poetry in it or parts of it, and long poems usually aren’t the same quality all the way through. If I had to nail down a definition though, I would say poetry has recognizable examples of rhyme, meter, rhythm, enjambment, etc. that are known poetic conceits. Prose may also use them, but not in a consistent pattern. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/19 "2014-06-23T01:13:23Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The definition I use is that poetry is writing which is constrained by something other than the meanings of the words. Many forms of constraint are possible, such as rhyme, alliteration, or a particular meter. Even those paragraphs written entirely without the letter E, or the like, are a form of poetry. I recently read “The Vane Sisters” by Vladimir Nabokov. Most of it is clearly prose – but toward the end, he starts playing games with acrostics, encoding meaning in the first letters of consecutive words. That is starting to move in the direction of poetry. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365/20 "2014-06-23T01:34:22Z")
I would say that judging by a lot of poetry I come across today (of the non-rhyming variety) the only differences between it and prose seems to be 1. syntactical (You can’t write prose like poetry and appeal to the reader’s intellect for long. There are exceptions: read Robert Hugh’s “Rome”…quite florid prose in places )and written in too terse a style to be suitable for prose. davidmich [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-difference-between-poetry-and-prose/691365.md?page=2)