Talk:Prose

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[edit] Question

So after reading both this article and the poetry article I don't really understand the difference. Well I do, but I am confused as to how they could be "mortal enemies" and how there is all this discussion on prose poetry being one or the other and how prosaic is sometimes a pejorative. Is prose just basically language, everything that is not metered and such like poetry? Because then I could understand all those previous things. But, if it is as I originally believed something 'higher' than everyday language, then I just don't get any of it. Sorry if this is not the place for this question or if it is a naive or stupid question. I truly am interested though in trying to understand more fully. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.12.253.162 (talk) 04:29, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Genre?

Is prose a genre? Would class be a better word? --bodnotbod 16:07, May 5, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Cleanup

I'll try to dedicate some time to clean this article up within the next few days.

[edit] of course

Of course prose is a genre. A genre is a category that said writing falls into, e.g. romance, etc. The genre of 'prose' is decribing the way to story is told. It is clearly a genre.

I.G. Mells


[edit] Not Quite

If we say prose is a 'genre', then what are all the groups of writing we clearly recognize as 'genres', e.g. romance, etc. This pushes the word 'genre' towards being meaningless--if everything is a genre, then nothing is a genre.

Prose, poetry, and dialogue are different from romances, sonnets, and knock-knock jokes the same way that a genus is different from a species.

Sah65 21:29, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] On Genre

Not necessarily, mells. You're correct in your genre definition, but prose isn't a genre so much as a style. Rephrase your definition -- "A genre is a category that said writing falls into, e.g. prose" -- it doesn't work as well. Perhaps "class" is a better definition for prose. Prose is a genre no more than journalism is a genre. It's a group, a category.

Onto the article -- I think the article could use a list of well-known prose authors, both modern and older. The article defines it at points as anything but poetry. It expounds on that, but examples would be nice, since the very nature of prose as described herein makes it difficult to discern what is prose and what is just a novel.

Count Zero 09:33, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] example

Why is the example of prose writing given a translation of remarks by a French poet? Wouldn't it make sense to quote one of the famous 19th century prose writers - Hazlitt or Carlyle or Ruskin or someone like that? john k 03:01, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vandalism?

"Once a poem is raped and pillaged" is in the current entry for this. Is this deliberate, if so, can someone please elaborate on it?

Yes, that was vandalism. It's gone. --Hyperbole 00:59, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Not sure if it is vandalism or not

Most of the second paragraph, although quite amusing, is not what you'd really expect in an encyclopedia.

neither is the word "LOSERS" that's found it's way into the article without context... it looks like someone gave a trained monkey a keyboard again (9_9) 81.132.55.17 23:02, 23 January 2007 (UTC) Elmo
I've taken care of both these problems. If you spot blatant vandalism, like the "LOSERS" edit, it couldn't hurt to revert it. --Hyperbole 00:59, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] verse/poetry

The "opposite" of prose isn't poetry but verse. Poetry is a quality. Prose is unmetered verse; verse is metered prose. Prose may be poetic, so may verse be. Verse may be doggerel if it isn't poetry, just as prose may be bland and uninspired. This article needs to be fixed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.163.0.41 (talk) 19:08, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

You raise some good points, but I'm not sure if they're in line with the academic consensus on this issue; it seems to me that of verse, prose, and poetry, none of the two are fully antithetical or incompatible. Ultimately, if we're going to change the article, we're going to need references to support the change. --Hyperbole (talk) 20:06, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Umm... WHAT?

"Prose describes the type of writing that prose embodies..." I would hope so! What is this supposed to say? Or are "Prose" and "prose" different? --Thinboy00 @031, i.e. 23:43, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Poetry in Translation

I don't think we should state so confidently that the goal of translating poetry is just to communicate the poem's conceptual/narrative content. Many translators--and many lovers of literature--would contend that a poem's metrical form and rhythmic texture are not mere incidentals but are an integral part of the experience of the poem, and are features that one should ideally try to replicate (or at least approximate) in translation.

65.213.77.129 (talk) 17:32, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] An example?

Could an example of two perhaps be posted? Perhaps a paragraph of text (from perhaps a PD original) in poetry, prose and basic text format? I would guess there are PD non-english texts that have been translated in all 3 styles. - SimonLyall (talk) 19:55, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

"I hate those poets. They thumb their noses at us humble tailors of prose." Imperial Star Destroyer (talk) 15:32, 11 June 2008 (UTC)