Prose poem

A prose poem is a kind of lyric poetry that uses  sentences and  paragraphs, not the usual lines and stanzas of an ordinary poem. It is usually short. 

The language within the paragraph may have some qualities of ordinary poetry, such as figures of speech, repetitions, rhythm, and even rhyme. Often a prose poem will contain dream-like thoughts or ideas that do not seem to be rational. Emotions may be only hinted at or quickly cut off.

The term prose poem is an oxymoron because poetry is often defined as language that is not prose.

Prose poetry probably began in Asia, in 17th century Japan with the work of Matsua Bashō. He created a form called haibun that combined haiku with prose. But in Europe it first appeared in France and Germany in the 19th century. The earliest in France was Gaspard de la nuit (1842) by Louis Bertrand.  The most famous example may be Charles Baudelaire’s Petits Poèmes en prose, or Le Spleen de Paris.

References

Category:Poetry