poetic prose
Rhythmic literary expression
Poetic prose is prose writing that employs techniques typically associated with poetry—rhythm, imagery, figurative language, emotional intensity—while remaining in paragraph form rather than verse.
The term describes a style rather than a genre: Her memoir read like poetic prose, full of metaphor and cadence.
Distinguished from prose poetry, which more deliberately blurs the line between forms.
- imageryVivid descriptive language
- sensory detailPerceptible descriptive element
- symbolismRepresenting concepts through images
- rhythmicHaving regular tempo
- literary fictionProse emphasizing craft and depth
literary style · cadence · metaphor · Romanticism · impressionistic · assonance · alliteration · creative nonfiction · lyrical · ornate · flowing · free verse · evocative · emotional resonance · nature writing · musicality · expressive · Modernism
- literary devicesmetaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, alliteration
- literary stylespastoral, satirical, lyrical, epistolary, literary fiction
- writing stylediction, tone, style, flair, word choice
- Nietzschewill to power, overman, superman, slave morality, Zarathustra
- prose styles
- Andersen TalesThe Ugly Duckling, The Snow Queen, Thumbelina, The Wild Swans, The Nightingale
poetic prosetechnical writing
Clear explanation of complexity
spare prose · legal writing · business writing · reportage · documentation