What is Prose?
Prose is simply a word to refer to text that is neither poetic nor dramatic (i.e. not a poem or a play).
- When you write an email, you are writing prose.
- When you create a story, you are writing prose.
- When you draft a speech, you are writing prose.
- When you prepare your college application essay, you are writing prose.
Prose vs Poetry in Shakespeare
Both poetry and prose can achieve the same end.
- Poetry and prose offer ways of saying something; sometimes its more stylized (poetry) and sometimes more straightforward (prose).
- Shakespeare uses language to great effect, especially by creating different classes based on the types of language that characters speak
Example: of poetry/prose from Romeo & Juliet, Act 2, Scene 5
Juliet
How art thou out of breath, when thou hast breath
To say to me that thou art out of breath?
The excuse that thou dost make in this delay
Is longer than the tale thou dost excuse.
Is thy news good or bad? Answer to that;
Say either, and I'll stay the circumstance.
Let me be satisfied, is't good or bad?
Nurse
Well, you have made a simple choice; you know not
how to choose a man. Romeo! No, not he, though his
face be better than any man's, yet his leg excels
all men's; and for a hand, and a foot, and a body,
though they be not to be talked on, yet they are
past compare. He is not the flower of courtesy,
but I'll warrant him as gentle as a lamb. Go thy
ways, wench; serve God — what, have you dined at home?
Formal Prose
Formal prose is academic prose. The main components of academic prose include:
- Full, grammatically correct sentences;
- Avoidance of contractions; and
- Elevated vocabulary appropriate to the subject matter.
Informal Prose
Informal prose is casual prose. This type of writing may use contractions or acronyms; it may be structurally simplistic.
Online Prose
Online prose can refer to social media, online articles, and blogs.
Prose for Social Media
Social Media - which includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, TikTok, etc. - generally focuses on very short bits of text.
- Each platform has its word limits, and those with images expect the image to do the "speaking" for the text.
- Sentences are short.
- Concepts are condensed.
- Modifiers are limited.
Narrative Prose
Narrative prose refers to prose that tells a story.
- It could be a play, a short story, a screenplay, a novel, or a novella.
- In each case, the point of the piece of text is to tell a story through a rising action up to a climax and down through the denouement to the end.
- The complexity and the number of plots and subplots will depend on the length and genre of the narrative.