Prose poem
A prose poem is a short piece of writing that looks like prose, with sentences and paragraphs and no line breaks, but works like a poem through compressed language, imagery, sound and a single concentrated feeling.
The line break is the one thing a prose poem gives away. Everything else stays. The piece is short, dense with images and driven by sound, and it is built to be read slowly. It just sits in a block.
What holds it together
Without lines, a prose poem must use other means.
- Sentence rhythm. Length, repetition and the music of clauses stand in for the line.
- Image and metaphor. The piece often follows one image as it develops.
- A single mood. Nearly all of it stays in one emotional register.
- A firm ending. With no line break to land on, the last sentence has to close the piece.
How to tell the difference
A paragraph of description is not a prose poem. The test is compression. If each sentence could be cut or reordered with no loss, you are reading prose. In a prose poem each sentence is placed, and the order matters like the order of lines does. Compare flash fiction, where the short form is organised around a small change in a story.
Why it matters to a writer or editor
The prose poem is a good place for novelists to loosen up, since it permits lyrical language without the demands of plot. For an editor, the job is to protect the compression. Cut explanation, check that every sentence has a reason to be there, and read it aloud for rhythm. See also free verse for the line-based alternative.
Read an example
Read an example: the opening sentence of Oscar Wilde's prose poem "The Disciple", set as a paragraph with no line breaks.
When Narcissus died the pool of his pleasure changed from a cup of sweet waters into a cup of salt tears, and the Oreads came weeping through the woodland that they might sing to the pool and give it comfort.
Oscar Wilde, 1894
Poems that sit near the line between verse and prose turn up in the Bossfeed daily poem archive.
Frequently asked questions
How is a prose poem different from flash fiction?
Flash fiction tells a small story, with characters and a change. A prose poem is driven by image, sound and mood, and may have no story at all. The two overlap, and many pieces can be called either.
Who wrote the first prose poems?
French writers of the nineteenth century are credited, notably Aloysius Bertrand and then Charles Baudelaire, whose Paris Spleen made the form well known.
If it has no line breaks, why is it a poem?
Because the other poem tools stay in force: compression, imagery, rhythm and sound. The line break is given up, and the sentence takes over its job.