Fear not you self-proclaimed non-lovers of poetry. While I could take you through the process of how to write a variety of different poetic formats, I know many of my regular blog readers aren’t regular poets. With that in mind, I want to honor the spirit of National Poetry Month during April by including poetry-themed posts of use to all writers. Even though you might not fancy yourself penning lofty lines of poetry, good writing can and should make use of poetic elements. Aiming to write more poetic prose will only add additional polish to your stylistic efforts.
The term prose encompasses the ordinary language used in speaking or writing. While every writer’s style varies, their point is still made using mostly standard conventions for writing sentences and paragraphs. On the other hand, poetry (also known as verse) typically employs artistic line breaks and a definite focus on the rhythm or meter of the words. Even people who may struggle to define poetry, often know poetry as soon as they see it or hear it.
- PROSE: Don’t forget to add milk and eggs to the grocery list.
- POETRY/VERSE: A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!
10 Tips for Writing Poetic Prose
This list is by no means exhaustive. It merely provides a starting point a writer can use to make a concentrated effort at writing more poetic prose. In general, a figure of speech is the use of language in a nonliteral sense (hyperbole, metaphor, metonomy, oxymoron, and simile) to create a particular effect which often also employs the poetic sound devices (alliteration, assonance, consonance, and onomatopoeia) listed here. I’ve included parallel sentence structure on this list because of its ability to add rhythmic effects to prose.
#1: Alliteration: Repetition of initial (beginning) consonant sounds.
Her dainty daughter demanded another piece of candy.
#2: Assonance: Repetition of a vowel sound.
All of his moaning and groaning over mowing the lawn fell on deaf ears.
#3: Consonance: Repetition of consonant sounds, but not limited to first letters.
The constant gusts of wind reminded everyone that wearing a hat in such blustery weather was a must.
#4: Hyperbole: A figure of speech which uses a deliberate exaggeration.
I’ve told you a million times.
#5: Metaphor: A figure of speech that makes a direct comparison between two unlike things, without using the word like or as.
Life is a highway.
#6 Metonymy: When a thing or concept is not called by it own name, but rather by the name of something associated in meaning. It’s closely related to synecdoche which occurs when something is substituted for the whole. Numerous other subsets of metonymy also exist.
METONYMY: The cup is quite tasty. (Cup can stand in for coffee, tea, etc.).
SYNECDOCHE: I used to drive a nice set of wheels. (In reference to the Mustang I once owned.)
#7: Onomatopoeia: The use of words that imitate sounds.
The chirping of the birds competed with the beeping of the alarm clock every morning to rouse the child from bed.
#8: Oxymoron: A condensed form of paradox (a statement that seems contrary to common sense, yet may be true) in which two contradictory words are used together.
He felt such sweet sorrow after giving his girlfriend an original copy of his poem.
#9: Parallelism: The grammatical balance of a sentence concerning similarity of words, phrases, or clauses in a list or series. It helps create a rhythm that is pleasing to the ear.
NOT PARALLEL: I enjoy reading memoirs, to go the the movies, and editing videos.
PARALLEL: I enjoy reading memoirs, going to the movies, and editing videos.
#10: Simile: A figure of speech that directly compares two things by using like or as.
The dog approached the horse like a timid crab cowering in its shell.
When attempting to use these various tips for writing poetic prose, be wary of overuse. As with all things, a little bit can go a long way. Don’t be that person who decides to make every other word alliterate. It’s always a wise move to try to steer clear from cliches (overused expressions).
What would you add to this list? Can you think of any of your favorite writers whose prose strikes you as being on the poetic side?
Learn more about National Poetry Month.
Permission must be granted by JeriWB to use the duck pond image in this post.
Article by Jeri Walker-Bickett aka JeriWB.
I loved this post!!! Although I employ many for these…particularly metaphor and I have a particular fondness for alliteration :)I never associated these with poetry…but I don’t really read poetry…but can see the similarity with poetic prose. And I love that term:)
Jacquie, writers of prose like you employ poetic devices all the time without labeling them as such per se, but they’re one of the ways plain prose starts to take on a style of its own. Over the years, I’ve developed a very pared-down and literal style in that I don’t use much figurative language. On the other hand, I spend oodles of time tweaking my fiction and nonfiction for elements of rhythm and sound.
Jeri the advice on poetic prose seems quite comprehensive and anything I added would only be a sub-set of the 10. A favourite example who does not overdo any one element would be Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the translations to English maintain the flavour exceptionally well. Some find the totality overblown but I believe it serves a purpose. Also, Canadian political journalist Chantal Hebert introduces just sufficient poetic prose to be instantly recognizable while conveying deep and well reasoned analysis. Another great tutorial. Thanks !
Paul, I knew I could count on you to provide a couple of great examples of authors I can now seek out on my own 🙂
I looked up the words simile and analogy. I think of them as being the same. Reading both definitions there are multiple similarities but the dictionary is not actually saying they’re the same. What’s the difference between these two words?
Glynis, that is an excellent question. Analogies are similar to simile and metaphor in that the writer is making a comparison between two things, either indirectly or directly. However, an analogy is more complex than a figure of speech in its purpose. An analogy is more often used as a logical argument that takes more than just a sentence to explain and explore the comparison being made. The analogy that readily comes to mind is the end of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. As a figure of speech, a simile would state, “Boo Radley is like a mockingbird.” The analogy that Scout makes at the end of the novel is that exposing Boo Radley would be like killing a mockingbird. This presents a logical argument that is an analogy. Early on in the book, the children are told it’s a sin to kill a mockingbirds because they don’t do anything hurtful or steal food. All they do is make beautiful noise. Scout then applies this lesson to what she learns about Boo Radley. To out Boo Radley for his role in saving Jem and Scout and murdering Bob Ewell would be to destroy him since Boo is an extremely shy and private man who has never really hurt anyone, just like a mockingbird who would never act out of malice. This is only a brief example, but I hope it adequately shows how an analogy goes much deeper in its implications than simile and metaphor.
I never considered myself a poet, but I admit I have wrote poetry for most of my life. (I rarely shared it other than with family)Since I started writing a blog I have been inspired to start writing more poetry again. Very informative about the different forms of prose. I needed a refresher course on the terminology 🙂
I had no idea April is National Poets Month! I must be living under a rock 🙂
Sandy, my blog along with meeting fellow bloggers interested in poetry, has also made me interested in trying my hand at it once again. I have terminology coming out of my ears since I used to teach all this stuff to high school students. Though I’m sure not much of it sticks until students encounter it at a different time and place in their lives when they’re ready to apply it in a more practical sense. Though I’ll always admit one can readily write poetry without knowing the proper names for all the terms, it’s just that knowing the jargon opens up even more possibilities for what the poet can do on the page.
What a great idea, using poetry to learn to write better prose! #6 was new to me. I think we probably use some of these forms without knowing what they’re called, but now I can be more intentional about it.
Meredith, I’m glad to hear #6 was new to you. I am pretty fond of using various forms of metonymy in my writing and poetry, but I really have to make myself include similes and metaphors since I tend to be such a literal thinker at times.
Thanks for sharing this. I write a little poetry and do most of the things that are in your list but never really paid much attention to the names. This is really good info.
Jay, the naming of things we already do in our writer can often provide an additional incentive to take note of them when we start to press them into service more often.
I know I’ve use these forms in writing – I just never knew what most of them were called. This is so interesting and something I’m going to start paying attention to.
Lenie
Lenie, it can also be fun to brainstorm lines that will allow you to practice each of these terms in isolation. Such exercises are great at bringing inspiration as well as helping us deal with writer’s block.
I love the word oxymoron. It first makes me think of a teenager with zits, but then it brings to mind military intelligence.
Jon, haha. Oxymoron is probably one of my favorite literary devices to employ.
Jeri, i have to admit – i have been bookmarking so many of your posts that i will have to make your own folder in my browser – keep the great posts coming! 🙂
I have used some of these – had no idea they have their own names and are poetry “tactics” (for the lack of a better word). I will pay more attention now – i get it how one can use poetry to improve their writing style, thank you for enlightening me 🙂
One thing i am trying to be better at is writing short sentences… not sure if it has to do anything with poetry but it definitely is something that can improve prose – learn to love the full stop, right?
A question that came to mind – do you think these tips are good for any and all type of writing? (e.g. novels, blog posts, even marketing collateral materials, if applicable)
Diana, I definitely think all of this tips are applicable to all types of writing, but only when used in moderation. Sometimes writers can go overboard when trying out a new tool in their writer’s bag of tricks.
This is a truly outstanding post Jeri… You are such a “complete” writer.. I really enjoy your posts!!!.
Shakespeare was the master of language and writing don´t you think … Well particularly in his sonnets. I will attach examples from prose, but maybe in any isolted cases, from poetry too…
●▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬●
Alliteration
“So long lives this and this gives life to thee… (Shakespeare, “Sonnet 18″)
“Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie,” (Shakespeare. “Romeo And Juliet”. Prologue of Act 2)
Homoioteleuton
“My mother weeping, my father wailing, my sister crying, our maid howling,
our cat wringing her hands” (Shakespeare, “Two Gentlemen of Verona”, 2.3.6.
Assonance
“Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move”… (Shakespeare, “Hamlet”. Act 2, Scene 2 l.116 /117)
Consonance:
“Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell.” (Shakespeare, “Hamlet”. Act 3 scene 4, line 38)
Sibilance
“Double, double, toil and trouble;/ Fire burn and caldron bubble”.
(Shakespeare, “Macbeth” IV.i.10-11).
Onomatopoeia (Shakespeare, The Tempest. Ariel´s Song . Act I, scene II)
Hark, hark!
Bow-wow.
The watch-dogs bark.
Bow-wow.
Hark, hark! I hear
The strain of strutting chanticleer
Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow.
Best regards, Aquileana 🙂
Aquileana, thanks for playing along by leaving such great examples. I’ll admit to needing to look up homoioteleuton, but once I read that it was also known as “near rhyme” I rested easy 😉
Even though I am not a poet and I know it (heehee) I knew all of the definitions except #6! I love to write, but have never enjoyed reading or writing poetry. However, this is an excellent resource for people who are into the definitions of particular parts of speech used daily. Nice informational piece. Thank you.
Laurie, lots of people are like you in that they don’t seek out poetry to read and write. Once you stop to think about it though, it becomes clear just how much poetry surrounds us on a daily basis in our writing, and even in the song lyrics we listen to and the advertising jingles we hear on radio and TV.
Oh, how I’ve forgotten the word onomatopoeia since high school. It’s so fun to say. It sounds like an order of Greek food. And I’m too familiar with parallelism- unfortunately in the world of resume writing.
Christina, onomatopoeia is quite fun to say. Every time I introduced the word in the classroom it was like I had 20 parrots sitting in rows who couldn’t stop squawking that word over and over and over.
I’m definitely not a poet but I do follow a few poetry based blogs. I find the style of writing interesting, especially with it’s use of words to describe objects and convey emotion,among others. Nice lesson here.
Phil, there’s so much power to be had in writing poetically. I’m not nearly the poet I would like to be, but still have fun giving lines of verse a go every now and then. I don’t write much free verse, but rather will pick a strict form like a sestina or a pantoum to keep me on my toes.
Handy dandy! I’m reading The Book Thief right now. I’d say that Markus Zusak’s writing qualifies as poetic prose.
Laura, The Book Thief has been on my TBR list for too long. I hope I can get to it before the movie makes it to me via my Netflix queue.
As a lawyer, I was trained to write succinctly (believe it or not). I frequently go back and rewrite to try to simplify my sentence structure to make my prose in legal briefs crystal clear. Actually, there was a judge who used to write opinions in poetry sometimes. He was considered to be quite eccentric.
I have been reading travel memoirs and narratives lately. It’s quite evident that some of the authors write prose more poetically than others.
Suzanne, I can imagine a judge who wrote his opinions in poetry would be quite the “interesting” person to deal with to say the least. I go on binges with reading travel memoirs and outdoor adventure stories. Edward Abbey’s prose ranks among my favorites.
Great article, Jeri. Many of us use the techniques you suggest already without thinking of them as poetic. Personally for instance use hyperboles, metaphores and onomatopoeia frequently.
Catarina, and yet such use of language is much more poetic than going to a bare bones approach to prose.
As you know, I dabble in poetry a bit of prose/poetry. Dabble would be the operative word… LOL. What I love about your tips are the many things I learn that I somehow missed or had forgotten from my past English classes. I had forgotten the difference between poetry and prose and liked this reminder (along with the others) very much. 🙂
Susan, that’s good to hear. I often see people refer to poetry as lines of prose, but what they mean is that they are lines of verse.
AWESOME! I so needed this! My 9yo son had homework last week where he had to identify which sentences were similes and which were metaphors. I had to look it up! I felt like such a dummy…I mean, DUH, I’m a writer (but to be fair it wasn’t my major in college or anything BUT STILL). I was thinking, well, I know what a metaphor is….but how is a simile different? haha! There were a few on this list I’d never heard of, too. And I always forget what hyperbole is, but I love to say the word. 🙂
Beth, a really fun way to teach simile and metaphor could be to have your son make his own list (in written or just orally) about how everyday objects in the house are like this or that similar thing. In the classroom, I would do an exercise where each student had to come up with a simile or metaphor and state it to the class: “The girl is like a swan.” Then they would have to follow that up with a because to show their line of thought. “The girl is like a swan because she is so graceful.” For advanced writers its a bit clunky, but for those are are still learning, the extra explanation requires them to make their line of thought more traceable.
Awesome advice poetic prose professor!
Constant consonance and assonance are always appealing.
My motto, succintly stated: Love life and always be beautiful!
Bill, haha I’m a few credits short of a professorship 🙂
I am glad to see you wrote on post on poetry. I think it is used like it was when I was younger. There is nothing like the flow and the rhyming of words and metaphors. I am not a poetic by an strength but many of my analogies of life and business work.
Arleen, young children love to play with language and they take readily to rhyming games and such. Some of that creativity with language gets pushed aside when all the “rules” of writing have to be learned. Yet, a good poet is often someone who can excel at many other areas of life because their minds bend where others do not.
This takes me back to English class. Sometimes we forget the basics. I think I’m going to give my son a writing assignment based on these tips.
Niekka, kids tend to love making poetic comparisons 🙂
Excellent post. My brother writes poetry from time to time. He could use this.
Jason, that’s good to hear. What kind of poetry does your brother usually write?
I do enjoy poetry but it’s definitely not my go-to for reading. I had no idea of all the different definitions to these, Jeri. I’m once again enlightened 🙂
Mike, tune in for the next post where I’ll feature a poetry slam video. I think you’ll like it.
I LOVE this post!
Consciously and unconsciously I employ a bunch of these. Reading my prose out loud often reveals the rhythms and the poetry lurking in the corners.
Candy, I would definitely put much of your writing in the poetic category. Hmmm, maybe at some point you will do a podcast where you read one of your works aloud?
Great post! YAY to National Poetry Month. These are great terms, and I’ll be referring back to them.
Denise, as with your poetry posts this month, I’ll be looking forward to coming across a few terms I am not familiar with.
Hello
I really enjoy reading poetry and sometimes try to write. I am happy to see a post related to it. I was aware of just few definitions , I will read this once more and also check more examples to learn.
Thank you for sharing and it was great to read.
Andleeb, it’s good hear you enjoy poetry. I will wager that you will like the rest of what I have planned for National Poetry Month as well.
Hi Jeri; Its been a long time since I was in a writing class, so I had forgotten how many writing techniques I use very day that are considered to b part of poetic writing. I know i use hyperbole metaphor simile for sure. and reading good authors whether they specialize in prose or poetry can help us all become better writers. thanks for sharing, max
Hi Jeri,
Good stuff. Being allowed to employ these tips makes writing more fun and reading more captivating. Sometimes editors aren’t impressed though, killjoys that they are. 🙂
Grace, I promise I am only a killjoy editor half the time 😉
Great post on how to add poetry to prose. I especially love onomatopoeia, but one needs to be careful. There are a few words that get overused. By using some of these techniques, one can also create a rhythm that matches the rhythm of an action and brings the reader into the middle of it.
Donna, I totally love it when an author can snag me into a scene by creating sentences with a rhythm that fits the scene. One book with such prose that comes to mind is The Virgin Suicides, but most likely because I read it not too long ago.
Great Article Jeri! I was looking at the first example and it made me laugh. Her dainty daughter demanded another piece of candy. I would think she would no be dainty sense she is so bossy. lol I learned something new today. Thanks.
Crystal, that’s a great observation. So much fun and play wrapped up in the way we choose to use words…
Hi Jeri,
This is a lovely post!! How you have simplified and broken the techniques into pieces is truly awesome! I try to write poetic prose sometimes but editors suck! Now I can do it more often as I am my own master at my blog!!
Thanks.
Balroop, it is nice to be master of one’s blog since we can try out so many different ways of writing.
I love alliteration and if I can find a way to include it in my writing I always do. 🙂 Parallelism is another favourite though until now, I had no idea what it was called. Great post!
Debra, parallelism is something most of us who write a lot will naturally work into our writing. It would be a good topic to do a much more detailed post on as well. I’ll have to file the idea away for the future 🙂
What a superb post, Jeri! Thx so much for this! I’ve pinned it and posted on G+. Have never heard the word assonance before, so I learned something right off the hop, although I was using the technique without knowing what it is called! Every writer should read this post.
Doreen, that makes my day knowing that I managed to bring a new term onto your radar. Yay!
Great post, Jeri. I’ve never heard of Metonymy before and some of the ones in the comments also. I need to think about using more of these devices in my blog posts but I usually write them too fast.
Beth, metonymy has so many variations I barely know most of them myself. I like that feeling though when it gets difficult for my brain to wrap itself aspects of language such as that.
This is definitely interesting Jeri. I copied it on my notes for future use.
Krisma, I know you like to write poetry so this list should come in handy 🙂
BRILLIANT.
I love using ALL of these gems in my poetry… especially assonance!
I am also madly IN LOVE w/ Verbs.
Superb.
Kim, it’s good to see a fellow poetry lover. I hope I don’t scare everyone away be doing poetry-related posts all month long…
I have never dabbled in poetry. I leave it the experts like you. 🙂 I do love the way you explain the terminology though…
Cheryl, dabbling in poetry can be a good way to stretch your writing muscles. I like to pick various forms and give it a go, but I’ve only written one sonnet. So precise and mathematical…
Such great tips, Jeri!! Perfect to reference when I need advice 😉
Mary, thanks for stopping by. It’s kind of fun to do a definition style post like this from time to time since there’s usually a couple of terms that each reader finds new or finds as a helpful reminder.