Exploring the Boundaries of Poetry and Prose for Creative Writing
"Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought, and the thought has found words.” - Robert Frost
Growing up, I always saw poetry as an intricate thing. In literature classes, prose looked like a safer place to explore, where I knew the direction the words were going. Poetry, on the other hand, was an unknown sea in which I should navigate alone. At that time, the boundaries of poetry and prose looked very clear to me, as if one could not exist in the same realm as the other.
For Cambridge Dictionary, the prose is an ordinary written language that is not poetry. Not only us day by day, but also the dictionary definition, sees poetry and prose in opposite directions. They are very different, of course. When prose is the direct flow of sentences we use almost every time to communicate, like this article I am writing right now, poetry uses a more flourishing and artistic way to tell things.
However, can we find a path to see poetry and prose closer to one another? As writers, exploring different mediums is excellent to open doors for creativity, and seeing those two as a possible route to get where we want is crucial.
Usually, we stick to the rules, but playing with the boundaries of poetry and prose can be healthy for our explorations.
Are you afraid of poetry?
As we get more used to a literal world, where we can see and know everything that happens almost everywhere, the abstraction poetry claims becomes heavier to have. We need the escape in the same amount as we do not want to escape.
Poetry always was a way to tell stories, as we see in classics like Iliad and Odyssey. To talk about the epic and heroic, poetry was the best choice. Wherewith more freedom of language, creating images. With time, prose got more space in storytelling, establishing the literature space we have now.
It was in that space that my younger self grew. Seeing prose as a good form of reading and passing the time. Poetry was, on the other side, an exhausting subject, that looked like homework.
It took me some time to not be afraid of poetry and not see prose as her opposite, but just as distinct. The two of them are tools we have to communicate, and sometimes one fits better than the other. As writers, we need to have a deep connection with what we want to present, and from this understanding which are the better tools.
When we get a closer look, it is possible to see that the boundaries of poetry and prose are not that clearly defined. They can be blurred and changed, given us space to explore.
Exploring poetry and prose together
“Writing requires courage, audacity. I'm not suggesting that there is something heroic about writing, but I do believe that to commit words and ideas to the page demands something of the writer. ” - Roxane Gay
It is crucial to narrow that writing in any form is a challenge. Prose and poetry show their provocations, so one is not superior to the other. But it is possible to unite some aspects of them, to benefit our writing style.
The prose can be more poetic, using methods like figures of language. They make it possible to create extensive and more relatable images, to transform the narrative flow.
Think about the feeling you have when reading one of your favorite poems. After this, think about how you can transform those feelings into words and get them to your prose. In poetic language, description works unusually. How do you describe the environment in your prose? Can you make it in another form? Poetry says things without saying exactly that. Try this on your prose.
You can also go oppositely. It is possible to use elements from prose into poetry. As prose is known for getting its feet on the ground, poetry can go this way as well. Constructing a harsher and less lyrical poem can be a good experience to try and see the limits of the poetry language.
As we evolve as writers, more challenges appear. Creating poetry or prose, much of the writing process requires part of ourselves and who we are. That is why knowing the tools to get what we want is so important.
Today I do not fear poetry as I feared in the past. Not seeing prose and poetry in opposite directions helped to not think about them as incompatible. It is possible to mix their structure at some moments and see the creation of beautiful new languages.
As boundaries of poetry and prose still real, it is vital for us not to see them as a wall, but as a passage for new potentiality.
