Prose and Poetry vs. Prose and Verse

Today, February 4, 2010, I ran across this comment by Annie Finch at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2009/03/poetry-in-notion-what-does-that-word-mean-anyway/

“I actually came across the use of ‘prose’ to refer to poetry again in the last few days–I will try to remember where it was. The only critical precedent I know for this is Lewis Turco, who holds that only metered writing qualifies as poetry.”

I have no idea how Prof. Finch could so misinterpret what I have been at great pains to distinguish as the difference between “prose” and “verse,” which are MODES OF WRITING and between “poetry,” “fiction,” “drama,” and “nonfiction.” Which are GENRES OF WRITING.

To wit: PROSE is UNMETERED LANGUAGE as distinguished from VERSE which IS METERED LANGUAGE. Prof. Finch goes on to say,

“He refers to free verse as ‘lined lyric prose.’”


If Prof. Finch considers herself to be a scholar as well as a poet, as I consider myself to be, then she ought to be able to cite the work in which I say such a thing. I challenge Prof. Finch to point to a place in anything I’ve written WHERE I SAY ANYTHING LIKE THAT. What I HAVE said is this:

VERSE IS METERED LANGUAGE, AND PROSE IS UNMETERED LANGUAGE. ANY OF THE GENRES (POETRY, FICTION, DRAMA, AND NONFICTION) MAY BE WRITTEN IN EITHER OF THE MODES. Thus, there may be VERSE POETRY or PROSE POETRY; VERSE FICTION (epics) or PROSE FICTION (novels); VERSE DRAMA or PROSE DRAMA; VERSE NONFICTION or PROSE NONFICTION.

Prof. Finch continues, “Maybe Turco’s phrase would not now be felt to be the insult to free verse that it might have been considered to be in the 1960s. If, somewhere along the line, ‘poetry’ became a term of praise and ‘prosaic’ the opposite, so that it would have been considered a problem to refer to something written in free verse as prose, that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore; now, prose poems are the height of literary cool. If the term “prose” is indeed creeping in to describe particular kinds of beautifully-written poetry, that could be why.
Of course, if we introduce the term ‘verse’ to refer to metered writing, then we are left with verse and prose, and either of them could then be lined or unlined, lyrical or discursive. This would make some nice clear distinctions that might be refreshing. Where would that leave the word ‘poetry’?”

The distinction between PROSE AND POETRY is a distinction between two different classes of things because PROSE IS A MODE and POETRY IS A GENRE. All I have ever said about FREE VERSE is this: THERE ARE ONLY TWO MODES IN WHICH ONE MAY WRITE ANY GENRE: PROSE, WHICH IS UNMETERED LANGUAGE, OR VERSE, WHICH IS METERED LANGUAGE. THERE IS NO THIRD “MODE” CALLED “FREE VERSE” BECAUSE, IF VERSE IS METERED, HOW CAN IT BE FREE?

Obviously, “FREE VERSE” is merely LINEATED PROSE: that is, PROSE BROKEN INTO LINES ACCORDING TO PHRASES, CLAUSES, SENTENCES or some other grammatical system SO AS TO RESEMBLE VERSE ON THE PAGE. The term “free verse” is not a term that is definable in any rational way. “Free verse poems” are PROSE POEMS. If they are not seen on the page but only heard aloud, ONE WILL HEAR PROSE RHYTHMS NOT VERSE METERS.

This essay, also to be found on the web, seems to have a better grasp of what I am talking about than Annie Finch does:

http://www.helium.com/items/438942-comparing-shakespeares-use-of-prose-poetry-and-verse

   

  The Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics, Third edition, www.UPNE.com, 2000. ISBN 1584650222, trade paperback, $24.95, 337 pages. “The Poet’s Bible," A companion volume to The Book of Dialogue and The Book of Literary Terms. ORDER FROM AMAZON 

The Book of Literary Terms: The Genres of Fiction, Drama, Nonfiction, Literary Criticism and Scholarship , www.UPNE.com, ISBN 0874519551, quality paperback, $24.95, 224 pages. A Choice  “Outstanding academic title” for 2000. A companion volume to The Book of Dialogue and The Book of Forms. ORDER FROM AMAZON

The Book of Dialogue, How to Write Effective Conversation in Fiction, Screenplays, Drama, and Poetry, www.UPNE.com, 2004. ISBN 1584653612, quality paperback, $14.95, 190 pages. A companion volume to The Book of Forms and The Book of Literary Terms. Order from AMAZON  

 
 

Comments

[Annie Finch]

Thanks for alerting me to this, Lew. I was paraphrasing from memory the distinctions you make in THE NEW BOOK OF FORMS (which I assume is what you are quoting from here). Clearly, in the deceptively casual atmosphere of the blog setting, I did so inaccurately. Please accept my apologies. I've always appreciated your taking on this topic--as I said, you are the only person I know to have done so, and I really like the distinctions you make--so I will immediately (or, as soon as I get home to my copy of THE NEW BOOK OF FORMS) revise my original blog post to quote you more accurately.

All best,

Annie

[Annie Finch]

PS I have always been amused by this entry in "index of terms" for THE NEW BOOK OF FORMS:

Free verse: See Prose.

[Lewis Turco]

Annie,

You know what Benny Hill used to say, "Never ASSUME anything because that will make an ASS out of U and ME." I wasn't quoting anything, I was just repeating what I've been saying for decades and that a few people are finally beginning to hear, that POETRY, a genre like FICTION and DRAMA, may be written in either of the two modes, PROSE or VERSE. I don't know why people think that POETRY and VERSE are synonyms, THEY ARE NOT. Nor do I know why people think that PROSE and POETRY are antonyms, THEY ARE NOT.