prose poem

American  

noun

1. a composition written as prose but having the concentrated, rhythmic, figurative language characteristic of poetry.

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prose poem British  

noun

1. a prose composition characterized by a poetic style

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Etymology

Origin of prose poem

First recorded in 1835–45

Example Sentences

“Animal Joy” is at once prose poem, manifesto, sociological study and therapy session.

From Washington Post • Aug. 18, 2022

Of these maddening outcomes she writes in a prose poem: “This discord is so ancient it makes fossils of us all, a history no longer entirely our own & yet only ours, never understood.”

From Washington Post • Dec. 7, 2021

Mr. Rux’s piece, a meditative prose poem split into three sections, refers to Lewis and Vivian as “the sharecropper’s son” and “the boy from Booneville,” respectively.

From New York Times • Oct. 27, 2020

This paean to Venice — part notebook, part prose poem — is composed in vignettes of two decades of winters Brodsky spent there.

From New York Times • Mar. 27, 2020

If it is not profound philosophy and if it does not solve the riddle of the universe, it is profound in its beauty, a prose poem.

From The Critical Game by Macy, John Albert