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Prose poets

AspiringLibrarian
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British Authors Before 1800: A Biographical Dictionary said of 18th-century Gothic novelist Ann Radcliffe that "her prose was poetry and her poetry was prose. She was, indeed, a prose poet, in both the best and the worst senses of the phrase. The romantic landscape, the background, is the best thing in all her books; the characters are two dimensional, the plots far fetched and improbable, with 'elaboration of means and futility of result.'"

Are there any writers whom you like more for their language than their plots? More pertinently, what distinguishes a prose poem from a verse poem? Is it length, rhythm, narrative, vocabulary, etc.?

http://www.qotd.org/portraits/Radcliffe,Ann.jpg
Ann Radcliffe approves this thread.

KittyFromHell
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Juan Ramon Jimenez

Spanish poet perhaps most famous for his work "Platero & I"

BoFantastic
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I would have to say Hemingway is the best prose poet I have ever come across. This man got skill and he know how to use it. His prose is impeccable.

AscensionES
Aptilneilrionaltion
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BoFantastic said:I would have to say Hemingway is the best prose poet I have ever come across. This man got skill and he know how to use it. His prose is impeccable.

I sincerely hope you've genuinely studied Hemingway's work..

poet Anonymous

Charles Baudelaire, in his introduction to "Paris Spleen," says this: "Which one of us, in his moments of ambition, has not dreamed of the miracle of a poetic prose, musical, without rhythm and without rhyme, supple enough and rugged enough to adapt itself to the lyrical impulses of the soul, the undulations of reverie, the jibes of conscience?"

Of course this is from 1869, when the poetic forms were much more rigid. I would argue that some of Bukowski's poems are even poetic prose cut up for effect, especially the more narrative ones involving dialogue and characters. Then there's always what's now being called "flash fiction," which is essentially the same thing that Baudelaire sought, maybe a little more heavy on the narrative side.

I would say now there really isn't a distinction. I find it very difficult to get through contemporary novels that don't have a poetic prose and vivid plot. I would cite William Faulkner as a prime example of combining both (plot and language). Some of his scenes and language are almost surreal.

AspiringLibrarian
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Thank you for that fascinating and intelligent comment, petrus. I'd never really connected flash fiction with prose poetry, and now I'm wondering why! As you say, they're essentially the same thing.

Astyanax
Ceejay
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'Cider with Rosie', by Laurie Lee, is a beautiful example of a novel written in wonderful poetic prose.

anna_grin
ANNAN
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the almighty plath. bell jurrr

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