Prose and Poetry: A Comparative Study

Author: Md. Amir Hossain

Affiliation: Senior Lecturer, Department of English, IBAIS University,
Uttara, Dhaka-1230, Bangladesh.
Corresponding Author’s details: Senior Lecturer, Department of
English, IBAIS University, House# 16, Road# 05, Sector# 04, Uttara,
Dhaka-1230, Bangladesh. Phone: +8801915908306, E-mail:
amir.ju09@yahoo.com, amir.hossain.16578@gmail.com

Introduction
Our desire to know ourselves and others, to explore the unknown mysteries of existence,
to make sense out of chaos, and to connect with our own kind are all primary reasons for
engaging in the process of literary analysis. The benefits to self and society that result
from this interaction include a sense of wonder at the glory of humanity’s imagination, a
sense of excitement at the prospect of intellectual challenge, and a sense of connection
with the universe. However, the aim of my present paper is to highlight the definition of
prose and poetry through making a difference between these two literary terms.

Defining Prose
Prose is the written equivalent of the spoken language. It is written in words, phrases,
sentences, paragraphs and chapters. It focuses on punctuation, grammar and vocabulary
to develop its message. Prose is made up of fiction and nonfiction. We speak every day
through the way of prose. If someone follows us around and reports on our actions and
conversations, the result will be prose. According to Samuel Johnson, “Imitations
produce pain or pleasure, not because they are mistaken for realities, but because they
bring realities to mind.” Prose expresses thought, idea, fancy and imagination through
language recorded in sentences and paragraphs. Prose includes fiction (short stories,
novels) and non-fiction (articles, essays, journals, biographies.) Selections must be
published and no plays or other dramatic material may be used. The time limit is not
more than five minutes including the introduction. Presentations must be from a
manuscript (which may be in a folder). Reading from a book or magazine is not

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permitted. Secondly, one needs a concrete (practical and) definition of prose. After
investigating several sources, the best definition found was: "Prose -- is the ordinary form
of written language. Most writing that is not poetry, drama, or song is considered prose.
Prose is one of the major genres of literature and occurs in two forms: fiction and non-
fiction." Prose is an art that involves a shared experience with the author and the
interpreter and his/her audience.

Defining Poetry
Poetry is any kind of verbal or written language that is structured rhythmically and is
meant to tell a story, or express any kind of emotion, idea, imagination, or state of being.
Poetry is used to achieving an artistic expression in several ways. There are certain forms
and patterns that poets follow in the composition process of their work. These different
forms are emerged with separate artistic and cultural movement. Most of these forms
coincide with the definition of poetry; the most popular of these forms are elegy,
narrative, ode, ballad, sonnet, villanelle1, sestina2, free verse, and epic. Different schools
of poetry are each characterized by or associated with specific styles of composition or
themes that are dealt with identities. However, these themes and methods of composition
are complex. Structure and technique to follow in order to become inspired and compose
poetry to achieve goals set for expression have been problems for writers throughout
history. There have been acclaimed works that address these troubles written by credible
writers, most notably Aristotle’s Poetics, Edgar Allen Poe’s The Philosophy of
Composition, and Sir Philip Sydney’s The Defense of Posey. They each incorporate their
respective writer’s ideas on how a poem should be composed and structured, as well as
how to evoke a catharsis or other emotion from the reader and they give the writer’s ideas
on what a poem should contain in order to classify it. It is mandatory that people meaning
to be educated in poetry understand these works in order to be able to comprehend and
identify different poetic forms. Where would the world be without poetry? Its impact on
civilization has been immeasurable. Poetry has helped men achieve artistic and creative
expression since its creation. However, poetry has not only helped its composers. Poetry
has contributed to its readers and fans immensely as well. It serves as a means of therapy
for the people it entertains in several ways; through the way the person interprets and

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relates the work to his or her own experiences in order to feel better or less alone about a
situation in their lives. Poetry has evolved over the course of time. In a contemporary
sense, poetry is viewed as something a person participates in through reading while they
are alone, as opposed to a primitive view of poetry being theatrical. In any case it
achieves its goal of giving rhythmic life to emotional expression, either through private
reading, or theatrical performance.
The truth of poetry is to paint human soul truly: the truth of fiction is to give a true
picture of life. The two kinds of knowledge are different, and come by different ways,
come mostly to different persons. Great poets are often proverbially ignorant of life.
What they know has come by observation of themselves: they have found within them
one highly delicate and sensitive specimen of human nature. Other knowledge of
mankind, such as comes to men of the world by outward experience, is not indispensable
to them as poets; but, to the novelist, such knowledge is all in all; he has to describe
outward things, not the inward man; actions and events, not feelings. The peculiarity of
poetry appears to us to lie in the poet's utter unconsciousness of a listener. Poetry is
feeling confessing itself to itself in moments of solitude, and embodying itself in symbols
which are the nearest possible representations of the feeling in the exact shape in which it
exists in the poet's mind.

Difference between Prose & Poetry

Prose and poetry are two ways of classifying types of writing. Sometimes we group
literature according to the topic matter (fiction, non-fiction, mystery, drama, and so on),
but here we may group it according to format. The distinction between what is prose and
what is poetry is, usually, pretty instinctive.
Let us start with the term, “poetry.” Poems are often easy to spot because the author
usually works to create a unique structure involving all of the senses. For instance, the
poet may arrange words very deliberately on the page to look a certain way; poets choose
words not only for their meaning, but also rhyme or sound for a special rhythm; some
poets even limit themselves to a fixed number of words or syllables. Even punctuation
and grammar can be manipulated by the poet to fit in with the poem's structure. In
contrast, the word prose comes from a Latin word meaning straightforward, and that's

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what prose writing is like. The story being told might be complex, but we can count on
all the features of everyday speech, such as paragraphs, sentences, and all the usual
punctuation. Types of literature that usually fall into the prose category include most
essays, short stories, novels, and plays. For example, Shakespeare is known for switching
back and forth within his plays, having certain characters speak in poetry and others in
prose. Nearly all writing shares the goal of communicating a message to an audience, but
how that message is communicated can differ greatly. The divisions between poetry and
prose are not clear-cut, but here are some generally accepted differences.
Most everyday writing is applied in prose form. The language of prose is, typically,
straightforward without much decoration. Ideas are contained in sentences that re
arranged into paragraphs. There are no line breaks. Sentences run to the right margin. The
first word of each sentence is capitalized. Prose looks like large blocks of words. On the
other hand, poetry is, typically, reserved for expressing something special in an artistic
way. The language of poetry tends to be more expressive or decorated, with comparisons,
rhyme, and rhythm contributing to a different sound and feel. Ideas are contained in lines
that may or may not be sentences. Lines are arranged in stanzas. Poetry uses line breaks
for various reasons—to follow a formatted rhythm or to emphasize an idea. Lines can run
extremely long or be as short as one word or letter. Traditionally, the first letter of every
line is capitalized, but many modern poets choose not to follow this rule strictly. The
shape of poetry can vary depending on line length and the intent of the poet.
Moreover, one of the differences in English between prose and poetry is that, while the
prose writer assumes his/her reader to be a busy person whose eye sweeps along with the
page at a fairly steady rate, seldom pausing long even at key passages, the poet still
assumes the reader to have perfect leisure and patience for dwelling on each word in a
poem and appreciating its relation with every other. Prose, in fact, is supposed to reveal
its full content at first reading; poetry is only at third or fourth. The first glance at a poem
takes in its prose sense as a base on which to build up the poetic sense. Poetic meaning is
contained in the complicated correspondence between the words used, regarded both as
sense and sound, and in latent meanings of the words evoked by the rhythmic spell. The
unusual juxtaposition of two words may carry a weight if meaning over which a

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thoughtful reader will spend as much time over a page or more of prose argument. In
ordinary prose one does not look for correspondences of this sort, or for latent meanings.

The Significance of my paper

This present study signifies that through defining prose and poetry, our younger literary
learners may gather new experiences and pragmatic knowledge of prose and poetry so as
to find out a new clue of literary research field.
Methodology
This paper is based on literary research. For procuring my secondary sources, I had to
rely on internet browsing for which I have enabled to write this tiny study.

Conclusion
Finally, it may be expressed that it is very difficult for us to define prose or poetry
accurately and appropriately through focusing on difference between them. Yet many
literary critics and theorists have been endeavoring to define these two literary terms
from the obsolete age to the post modern. But here, with very little my judgments, I have
tried to define prose and poetry by offering a difference between them.

Notes
1. A villanelle (also known as villanesque) is a nineteen-line poetic form consisting of
five tercets followed by a quatrain. There are two refrains and two repeating rhymes, with
the first and third line of the first tercet repeated alternately until the last stanza, which
includes both repeated lines.
2. A sestina (Old Occitan: cledisat [klediˈzat]; also known as sestine, sextine, sextain) is
a fixed verse form consisting of six stanzas of six lines each, normally followed by a
three-line envoi.

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 Authorial Information

Mr. Amir Hossain is holding the degree of M. Phil in English literature from department
of English of Jahangirnagar University, and is a senior lecturer in the department of
English at IBAIS University, Uttara, and Dhaka-1230. He used to teach English literature
& language at America Bangladesh University, BGIFT-Institute of Fashion &
Technology, Gazipur, S.M. Mozzammel Haque Business Management College, Baikal
College, and Bangladesh Open University (SSC & HSC program). His literary theory
based area study includes-feminism, formalism, psychoanalysis theory, modernism, and
postmodernism, deconstruction, cultural studies, colonialism, post-colonialism, oriental,
aestheticism, gender studies, African criticism, structuralism and post structuralism.
Moreover, he has also studied on drama, poetry, novel, African literature, post-colonial
literature, story, treatise, essays and so on. He has written 25 numbers of articles and
participated in national and international conferences in Bangladesh. Among them, 21
numbers of articles have been published in national & international scholarly journals. He
is a reviewer and editor of 20 numbers of national and international scholarly journals
(online and printed version) and an editor of a book, Knowledge on Idioms: An Iranian
Context. Moreover, he has recently written and edited Test Papers of English for the
students of SSC level published by Captain Publishers. He is now writing a book on
English Grammar for the students of HSC level in accordance with new syllabus-2015,
and is teaching English language courses in the departments of English, BBA, MBA,
LL.B, EEE, CSE, and Economics at IBAIS University. He also contributes to English
literature and language and Social Sciences in writing articles on various topics.