Prose contains narrative and does not follow any set rhythm.

Prose is a communicative style that sounds natural and uses grammatical structure. Prose
is the opposite of verse, or poetry, which employs a rhythmic structure that does not
mimic ordinary speech. Most forms of writing and speaking are done in prose, including
short stories and novels, journalism, academic writing, and regular conversations.
Characteristics of a Prose:
Written in paragraphs
Tells a story rather than describes an image or metaphor
Generally has characters and a plot
Common Examples of Prose
Everything that is not poetry is prose. Therefore, every utterance or written word that is
not in the form of verse is an example of prose. Here are some different formats that
prose comes in:
Casual dialogue: Hi, how are you? Im fine, how are you? Fine, thanks.
Oration: I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation
where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their
character. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dictionary definition: Prose (n)the ordinary form of spoken or written
language, without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse.
Philosophical texts: Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process
he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss
will gaze back into you. Friedrich Nietzsche
Journalism: State and local officials were heavily criticized for their response to
the January 2014 storm that created a traffic nightmare and left some motorists
stranded for 18 hours or more.

Examples of Prose in Literature

Example #1
I shall never be fool enough to turn knight-errant. For I see quite well that its not the
fashion now to do as they did in the olden days when they say those famous knights
roamed the world.
(Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes)
Don Quixote is often considered the forerunner of the modern novel, and here we can see

Cervantess prose style as being very direct with some sarcasm.

Example #2
The ledge, where I placed my candle, had a few mildewed books piled up in one corner;
and it was covered with writing scratched on the paint. This writing, however, was
nothing but a name repeated in all kinds of characters, large and smallCatherine
Earnshaw, here and there varied to Catherine Heathcliff, and then again to Catherine
Linton. In vapid listlessness I leant my head against the window, and continued spelling
over Catherine EarnshawHeathcliffLinton, till my eyes closed; but they had not
rested five minutes when a glare of white letters started from the dark, as vivid as spectres
the air swarmed with Catherines; and rousing myself to dispel the obtrusive name, I
discovered my candle wick reclining on one of the antique volumes, and perfuming the
place with an odour of roasted calf-skin.
(Wuthering Heights by Charlotte Bront)
In this prose example from Charlotte Bront we hear from the narrator, who is focused on
the character of Catherine and her fate. The prose style mimics his obsession in its long,
winding sentences.

Example #3
I never know you was so brave, Jim, she went on comfortingly. You is just like big
mans; you wait for him lift his head and then you go for him. Aint you feel scared a bit?
Now we take that snake home and show everybody. Nobody aint seen in this kawn-tree
so big snake like you kill.
(My Antonia by Willa Cather)
In this excerpt from My Antonia, Willa Cather uses her prose to suggest the sound of
Antonias English. She is a recent immigrant and as the book progresses her English
improves, yet never loses the flavor of being a non-native speaker.
Example #4
Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton. Do not think I am
very much impressed by that as a boxing title, but it meant a lot to Cohn. He cared

nothing for boxing, in fact he disliked it, but he learned it painfully and thoroughly to
counteract the feeling of inferiority and shyness he had felt on being treated as a Jew at
Princeton.
(The Sun also Rises by Ernest Hemingway)
Ernest Hemingway wrote his prose in a very direct and straightforward manner. This
excerpt from The Sun Also Risesdemonstrates the directness in which he wrotethere is
no subtlety to the narrators remark Do not think I am very much impressed by that as a
boxing title.

Example #5
The Lighthouse was then a silvery, misty-looking tower with a yellow eye, that opened
suddenly, and softly in the evening. Now
James looked at the Lighthouse. He could see the white-washed rocks; the tower, stark
and straight; he could see that it was barred with black and white; he could see windows
in it; he could even see washing spread on the rocks to dry. So that was the Lighthouse,
was it?
No, the other was also the Lighthouse. For nothing was simply one thing. The other
Lighthouse was true too.
(To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf)
Virginia Woolf was noted for her stream-of-consciousness prose style. This excerpt from
To the Lighthouse demonstrates her style of writing in the same way that thoughts occur
to a normal person.
Example #6
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 wind, wave, star, bird, 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.
(Be Drunk by Charles Baudelaire)
Unlike the previous examples, this is an example of a prose poem. Note that it is written
in a fluid way that uses regular grammar and rhythm, yet has an inarguably poetic sense
to it.

Poetry is rhythmic and image-based.

Poetry is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and rhythmic[1][2][3] qualities of
language such as phonaesthetics , sound symbolism , and metre to evoke
meanings in addition to, or in place of, the prosaic ostensible meaning .
Characteristics of Poetry

Written in verse
Written in poetic meter
Focuses on image-driven metaphors
Might have a narrative, but it might not or it might be harder to understand

Examples Highlight the Poetic Types

Each type of poetry is characterized by its own style. By understanding the various styles,
you are better able to learn the variances between each of the different types.

Haiku Poems
The Old Pond by Matshuo Basho is an example of a haiku:
The old pond-- a frog jumps in, sound of water.
Truth in Advertising by Yahia Lababidi is another example of a haiku:
Morning epiphany, applicable to love and life, in haiku-like purity.
Free Verse Poems
Because free verse poems are the least well defined, there are numerous examples of free
verse poems. This excerpt from This is Marriage, is by Marianne Moore is one such
example:
This institution, perhaps one should say enterpriseout of respect for which one says one
need not change one's mind about a thing one has believed in, requiring public promises
of one's intention to fulfil a private obligation: I wonder what Adam and Eve think of it
by this time, this fire-gilt steel alive with goldenness;
This excerpt from Little Father by Li-Young Lee is another example of free verse poetry:
I buried my father in my heart.
Now he grows in me, my strange son,
My little root who wont drink milk,
Little pale foot sunk in unheard-of night,
Little clock spring newly wet
In the fire,little grape, parent to the future
Wine, a son the fruit of his own son,
Little father I ransom with my life.

Cinquains
A cinquain is a five-line poem inspired by Japanese haiku's. There are many different
variations of cinquain including American Cinquains, didactic cinquains, reverse
cinquains, butterfly cinquains and crown cinquains
TreeStrong,

TallSwaying,
swinging,
sighing
Memories of summerOak
Epic Poems
An epic is a long and narrative poem that normally tells a story about a hero or an
adventure. Epics can be oral stories or can be poems in written form. The Illiad and the
Odyssey are examples of famous epic poems, as is The Song of Hiawatha by Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow.
The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
By the shore of Gitchie Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
At the doorway of his wigwam,
In the pleasant Summer morning,
Hiawatha stood and waited.

Ballad Poems
Ballad poems also tell a story, like epic poems do. However, ballad poetry is often based
on a legend or a folk tale. Ballad poems may take the form of songs and may contain a
moral or a lesson.
The Mermaid by Unknown author
Oh the ocean waves may roll,
And the stormy winds may blow,
While we poor sailors go skipping aloft
And the land lubbers lay down below, below, below
And the land lubbers lay down below.
Name Poems

While a name verse poem can be as simple as using an adjective to describe a person that
begins with each letter of that person's name, these poems can also be far more beautiful
works of art. For example, here is a name poem for a person named Alexis:
Alexis seems quite shy and somewhat frail,
Leaning, like a tree averse to light,
Evasively away from her delight.
X-rays, though, reveal a sylvan sprite,
Intense as a bright bird behind her veil,
Singing to the moon throughout the night.

As you can see, each line of the poem begins with the letters of the name Alexis. This can
be done with any name - for example, the following name poem is a poem for a person
named Taylor:
Taylor likes each sentiment to be
Appropriate to its own time and place.
Years may roll like waves across her shore,
Leaving none of what there was before,
Obliterating every sign of grace.
Reason not, says Taylor, with the sea!
Sonnets
The poems of William Shakespeare provide excellent types of poetry examples for
sonnets.
Sonnet 116 by Shakespeare
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments.
Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not
Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Shakespeare was not the only source of sonnets.
Sonnet of Demeter - An Italian Sonnet
Oh the pirate stars, they have no mercy!
Masquerading as hope they tell their lies;
Only the young can hear their lullabies.
But I am barren and I am thirsty
Since she has gone. No hope is there for me.
I will roam and curse this earth and these skies-Death from life which Zeus sovereign denies.
My heart's ill shall the whole world's illness be
Till she is returned-- my daughter, my blood-From the dark hand of Hades to my care.
With my tears these mortals shall know a flood

To show Poseidon's realm desert and bare.

No myrtle shall flower, no cypress bud
Till the gods release her...and my despair.
Ode to Job
Job came down
in awoosh, outstretched
and gliding into the horizon.
Blue shadowed
flight arrested by the beckoning marsh.
His greatness bears much
yet not the anguish of ancient prophecy.
Situated grievances weigh feathery
on this long, strong back.
Unconscious emotion numbs
while time drifts out
another sun salted day.

Different Types of Poetry

There are over 50 types of poetry. Poetry is categorized by the number of lines in the
poem, the words in the poem, whether it rhymes or not, and what it is about.
Some types of poetry examples include haiku, free verse, sonnets, and name poems,
although there are many more types as well.
Haikus are one category of poems. The haiku originated from Japan, Its the
shortest type of poem and, often, the most difficult to understand. It consists of three
lines that generally do not rhyme. The lines should have five, seven, and five syllables
in them.
Free verse poems are another type of poetry. A free verse is the loosest type of

poem. It can consist of as many lines as the writer wants. It can either rhyme or not,
and it does not require any fixed metrical pattern. Free verse is commonly used
among writers because it allows for maximum flexibility.
Sonnets are another classification of poetry. A sonnet is best described as a lyric
poem that consists of fourteen lines. Sonnets have at least one or two conventional
rhyme schemes. Shakespeare in particular was famous for writing sonnets.
Name poems are popular among children and are often used in schools. The name
of the person becomes the poem. Each letter in the name is the first letter in the line of
the poem.
There is a very wide definition of what constitutes poetry, and although some types of
poetry can be grouped together in specific styles, creativity is the key to poetry and a new
poet can choose to write in any style he wants, even if it doesn't fit into one of the
recognized types.