Apocalyptic prophecy is more reliant on dreams and visions. Almost all the prophecies came via a dream or vision. Symbols Classical prophecy uses more concrete symbols. The times, events, places, and peoples are very clearly seen to be literal times, literal events, literal places, and literal peoples. They are predicted in terms of literal personages and they are fulfilled in those terms.
Apocalyptic prophecy uses more abstract symbols.
Images and animals are used to show events, places, and peoples. The very clear symbolic imagery points to the fact that the times should also be considered as symbolic. The literal time periods in the classical prophecies are ample time for the events prophesied about to occur. In the classical prophecies , the end point is generally connected with people who are either contemporaneous or immediately successive to the time of the prophet. The time units in classical prophecy are very normal.