Differentiate between prose and poetry.

Q. Differentiate between prose and poetry. June-2010, Q.No.-7 (c)

Ans. The main difference between prose and poetry is that prose is direct or straightforward writing. Here, the writer communicates his/her thoughts or feelings as clearly and precisely as possible. In poetry, which is generally written in verse, many things may be left to the imagination of the reader. Prose is like walking, i.e. it is functional and provides information. Poetry on other hand is like dancing and aims to delight. A French poet and critic, Paul Valerie, compared prose to walking and poetry to dancing, we walk in order to go from one We do it for a particular purpose. When we walk for exercise, we do it for the improvement of our health. In other words, walking is utilitarian purposes, i.e. it is something that we do with a purpose in view. Thus, ordinary prose is like walking place to another. When we go to see a dance, we are not interested in seeking information. When we see a good dance, we enjoy it. In other words, the objective is enjoyment and not mere information or instruction. When we like a particular dance, we go and see that dance repeatedly because every time we see it, we get a new aesthetic experience. In the case of poetry and literary prose, we call our favourite poem or passage. We read it several times and are not tired of it. If it is an ordinary prose passage, the moment we understand the meaning, we don't want to read it again. This is the major difference between prose and poetry

Poetry is art in itself. It is a rhythmical type of literary composition that usually serves to excite the readers. Either written down or spoken orally, poetry is characterised by an imaginative and attractive expression of one's thoughts, usually in an elated manner. It is metrical, which means that poems are metered or structured. Poetry also observes a sense of pattern that puts into consideration the words that connect each other either in terms of sound or original word meanings. That's why readers often encounter rhyming words in poetry. These rhymes act, not just as mere ornaments, but also help to convey the overall meaning of the piece. In addition, poetry is represented in lines and not in sentences and that's why one can quickly distinguish the lines one, two and so forth for the entire piece On the other hand, prose is quite ordinary. It is regarded by many as the most typical language form because it is observed in many areas of writing, most especially in newspapers, magazines and even encyclopaedias. Prose can be either written or spoken but without the metered and structured quality of poetry. Prose is characterised by being simple, common and not that expressive. Often, it is even regarded by literary experts as a dull form of expression. It is more informal and that's why readers find it a little disorganised to read. There may be slight rhythm and repetitions in the prose, but these are not significant enough to be noticed. The sentence is also considered to be its basic unit, wherein there are no line breaks, like observed in poetry. To summarise, poetry is more rhythmical, formal and metered in terms of structure as compared to the more ordinary prose. Poetry is more expressive and attractive as opposed to the usual dull quality of prose. Lines are considered as the basic units of poetry, whereas sentences fill the exact same role in the case of prose. Generally, poetry often has some rhymes and relationships between its words as opposed to their absence in prose.