What is the definition of prose?
The definition of prose is language that resembles common speech in its emphasis on sentences rather than rhythms or sounds.
Prose
Last Updated on February 25, 2021, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 130
Prose simply refers to language written in sentences and paragraphs rather than verse (i.e. language other than poetry). It applies to all language without a regular rhythmic pattern or metrical structure.
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Correct example:
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- “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
- The first sentence of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is an excellent example of prose.
Incorrect example:
- “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun / Coral is far more red than her lips’ red: / If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; / If hairs be wire, black wires grow on her head” (lines 1-4).
- These lines from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 are an example of verse.
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