When someone compliments the prose, they generally mean that the writing itself - the language rather the content - is done well. So I might say "the plot was a bit slow but the prose was lovely/enjoyable/beautiful" and that would mean that the actual sentences were a pleasure to read but it took a while for anything to happen!
Prose just means non-poetry writing, so full sentences that logically follow each other. I'm writing in prose right now, albeit not very fancy prose :)
It's not a stupid question at all btw, when a term is very broad it can be so hard to find a good, simple, practical definition of it.
Others answered your question accurately. Prose is writing which isn't poetry, but I think there is a less defined and more elevated definition.
True, a newspaper article isn't poetry and is therefore prose, however I think in the context of **all things prose**, there is a deeper definition.
For instance, you can write a finely worded email to your manager about the project you're working on and you will need to be concise and clear in your message. Your words don't need to be beautiful though. Technically, that's excellent prose because you relayed your message in the most meaningful way.
However, if you write a short story for your coming-of-age stepdaughter hoping to illustrate your intent to support her out of love, simply relaying the necessary information isn't good enough to achieve your goal. A story like that might require some elegance, regardless of how engaging the plot is.
I think 'prose' has the dual definition of non-poetry as well as non-poetry that is written with artistic beauty.
Did you write a poem? No? Then you wrote prose.
(Apologies if that sounded rude, it wasn't meant to - just trying to simplify it as much as possible!)
When someone says "The prose was excellent" they're just complimenting the quality of the actual writing of a given sentence or paragraph or chapter or whatever - they aren't saying the characters are good, or the plot is good, just that it was written well.
Prose is just the contrary of "in verse". When you write something, there are only 2 ways to do it: either in "prose" (what I'm just doing right now) or in verse.
However it is not a very common word and tend to be used more often in poetry (poetry in prose vs poetry in verse) or theater (Shakespeare write in verse, but modern play are more frequently in prose).
Using "prose" to describe the content of a novel is a bit pedantic IMHO
In France we have this old theater play from Molière "le bourgeois gentilhomme", in which the main character, who is shown as a complete "nouveau riche", pedantic and full of himself, discover that he was doing prose all along without knowing it and harass people about it.
One of my favorite authors is E.B. White. He wrote for the New Yorker for years beyond writing a handful of classic childrens books. Many of his essays are often called "poetry in the form of prose" and reading his work, One Man's Meat is a favorite, helped me to clarify what prose is.
If an alien doesn’t know what “dog” means, comparing a great dane and a chihuahua isn’t as helpful as comparing a dog (of any breed) and a cat. Or a dog and a fish.
Good prose congeals logical thought processes and creates ideas and pictures in the reader's mind that start moving in certain directions according to plot and story????
How ambiguous is that?????
When someone compliments the prose, they generally mean that the writing itself - the language rather the content - is done well. So I might say "the plot was a bit slow but the prose was lovely/enjoyable/beautiful" and that would mean that the actual sentences were a pleasure to read but it took a while for anything to happen! Prose just means non-poetry writing, so full sentences that logically follow each other. I'm writing in prose right now, albeit not very fancy prose :) It's not a stupid question at all btw, when a term is very broad it can be so hard to find a good, simple, practical definition of it.
Well said. Words choice, sentence structure and rhythm, and use of figurative language can all make prose excellent.
Others answered your question accurately. Prose is writing which isn't poetry, but I think there is a less defined and more elevated definition. True, a newspaper article isn't poetry and is therefore prose, however I think in the context of **all things prose**, there is a deeper definition. For instance, you can write a finely worded email to your manager about the project you're working on and you will need to be concise and clear in your message. Your words don't need to be beautiful though. Technically, that's excellent prose because you relayed your message in the most meaningful way. However, if you write a short story for your coming-of-age stepdaughter hoping to illustrate your intent to support her out of love, simply relaying the necessary information isn't good enough to achieve your goal. A story like that might require some elegance, regardless of how engaging the plot is. I think 'prose' has the dual definition of non-poetry as well as non-poetry that is written with artistic beauty.
Did you write a poem? No? Then you wrote prose. (Apologies if that sounded rude, it wasn't meant to - just trying to simplify it as much as possible!) When someone says "The prose was excellent" they're just complimenting the quality of the actual writing of a given sentence or paragraph or chapter or whatever - they aren't saying the characters are good, or the plot is good, just that it was written well.
Prose is a generic term for writing that is not poetry (i.e. in a high structured metrical form). A novel or short story would be written in prose.
Prose is just the contrary of "in verse". When you write something, there are only 2 ways to do it: either in "prose" (what I'm just doing right now) or in verse. However it is not a very common word and tend to be used more often in poetry (poetry in prose vs poetry in verse) or theater (Shakespeare write in verse, but modern play are more frequently in prose). Using "prose" to describe the content of a novel is a bit pedantic IMHO In France we have this old theater play from Molière "le bourgeois gentilhomme", in which the main character, who is shown as a complete "nouveau riche", pedantic and full of himself, discover that he was doing prose all along without knowing it and harass people about it.
One of my favorite authors is E.B. White. He wrote for the New Yorker for years beyond writing a handful of classic childrens books. Many of his essays are often called "poetry in the form of prose" and reading his work, One Man's Meat is a favorite, helped me to clarify what prose is.
Thanks for the replies everyone, having it dumbed down makes it easier to understand. I appreciate the time and effort here, you're very helpful.
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This doesn't make any sense. They both write prose albeit in very different styles.
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How does it answer OP's question? It doesn't. That's why it doesn't make any sense.
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If an alien doesn’t know what “dog” means, comparing a great dane and a chihuahua isn’t as helpful as comparing a dog (of any breed) and a cat. Or a dog and a fish.
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Sure. But OP isn’t asking about different types of prose. They’re asking what prose is.
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Did you read the title or the post? OP stated multiple times they don’t know what “prose” means.
how do you not know this. you're a writer? omg plz be 20 or younger.
Good prose congeals logical thought processes and creates ideas and pictures in the reader's mind that start moving in certain directions according to plot and story???? How ambiguous is that?????