Writing is a way of communicating
ideas on paper, and consists
of words, numbers and letters arranged into
various groups to express thoughts. It is also a way of capturing sounds on
paper.
Very often words are broken into units of sound called syllables. Some of
these syllables are stressed and others are not, so there
is a rise and fall
of sound, something like the sea, where there's a rise and fall of the
surface of the water. Thus we have a kind of undulation of sound.
When words are strung together in ordinary sentences and paragraphs, they
are called prose. It's man's usual mode of expression. Prose comes from a
Latin word meaning "straight forward, matter of fact." It's classified
according to whether it
is narrative, descriptive, explanatory or
argumentative, and
most prose combines two or more of these forms. It
includes
the following kinds of writing: essays, plays, short stories,
novels, conversation articles and news stories.
When words go beyond the ordinary expression of thought, and are arranged into special form with lines, imagery, emotions, and rhyme, we enter the world of poetry. Poetry fits thought into a common rhythm and meter. The poet will often use suggestions and figures of speech.
We can get an idea of the difference between the two types of writing, by
comparing two groups of people walking down the street. In one group each
person walks at his or her own pace.
In the other group we have soldiers
marching in ranks down the street. They are more regimented, keeping the
same step, and walk in lines having the same length. Thus metric poetry is
more structured for stringing sound and rhythm together. It is more
melodious. This doesn't mean that prose doesn't have rhythm
but it is more
uneven.
The body of poetry by the author here, contains variations.
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Site Last Updated on 06/15/08