Prose poetry
Poetry Thursday's prompt for last week was "prose poetry". I like prose poetry, but I think that there are lots of problems in the form and in the way it is often understood.
The three classic main types of text are dialogue, narration and description. All of them can be in prose or in verse form. For example, Shakespeare uses both verse and prose in his plays (which are, by their very nature, dialogues). Novels are, for the most part, prose narrations, and epic poetry is verse narration. Description is equally possible in prose and in verse, too. For example, I think that lyrical poetry is description of feeling.
The problem with prose poetry, the way many people understand it, is that it is necessarily a description, preferably of a setting, a location. Even teachers at the University level understand that prose poetry is what happens when the narrator of a novel takes up a paragraph with long sentences and pretty adjectives to describe a sunset or a room. I think that the possibilities of prose poetry are mostly unexploited, but if we widen the field, we need a definition so that we know where we are. We could start by saying that prose poetry is prose that shares as many poetic qualities as possible, excluding the ones related to line formation. We can have all the other phonic devices (rhythm), we can have the pleasure of language for its own sake, a greal deal of nuance, and all the semantic devices we expect in poetry, like metaphors.
The best two works of prose poetry that I know certainly include a lot of description. They are Written on the Body, by Jeanette Winterson, and Platero and I by Juan Ramón Jiménez. Both are mostly descriptive, but have enough action to appeal to compulsive novel readers. The language is beautiful, without smothering the message in metaphors. The subject matter is commonplace (romantic love, rural life) treated with originality. The best of what poetic prose can be.
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La sugerencia de Poetry Thursday para esta semana era "prosa poética". A mí me encanta, pero creo que hay algún problema en la forma en que normalmente se entiende.
Los tres modos clásicos de elocución son el diálogo, la narración y la descripción. Todos ellos pueden ir en prosa o en verso. Por ejemplo, Shakespeare lo mismo usaba prosa que verso en sus diálogos en teatro. Las novelas son son narraciones en prosa, y la poesía épica, narración en verso, La descripción puede ser en prosa o verso también, y puede decirse que la poesía lírica son descripciones de sentimientos.
Las dos mejores obras de prosa poética que conozco son Escrito en el cuerpo de Jjeanette Winterson, y Platero y Yo de Juan Ramón Jiménez. Son muy descriptivos, pero también tienen mucha acción, y mucho humor. El lenguaje es precioso sin ser cursi, sin ahogar el mensaje en metáforas. Los temas son corrientes (el amor, la vida rural) pero tratados con originalidad. Lo mejor a lo que puede aspirar la prosa poética.
3 comentarios
Rethabile -
Crafty Green Poet -
JGalbarro -
Y se me ocurre pensar: ¿No hay prosa poética en muchos pasajes de Cien años de soledad?