by Ellen Buikema
There are times when a piece of writing moves us at a deep level.
This writing, poetic prose, is a combination of sound, rhythm, and sense imagery that pierces the heart.
Composing poetic prose isn’t only about imagery and word usage. The rhythm of a piece is equally important.
Sentence length, internal rhymes, syllables, assonance, and alliteration all affect rhythm.
Sentence length and syllable balance
The sentence length and the number of syllables can vary the way a reader paces a paragraph or stanza in their mind.
Your word choice and sentence length contribute to the pacing and mood.
Reading your work aloud helps you have a clearer feel for the pacing of your writing.
“I took a breath. The rippled concrete poked my bare feet. I grasped the ladder and grit my teeth. The crowd hushed as I stepped onto the diving board.”
“I took a breath and focused on the rippled concrete poking at my bare feet before grasping the ladder and pulling myself onto the diving board.”
Both examples are of the same event, but the pacing is different.
The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of alliteration is “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?”
Alliteration is the use of the same consonant sounds in consecutive words or syllables at the beginning of a word.
All the characters in my children’s chapter books have alliterative names. This was purely accidental, or perhaps a gift from the muse. Frankie Fish, Gary Gecko, Boris Bunny … Boris happens to be a bully, by the way.
Assonance uses the repetition of similar vowel sounds in two or more words close to each other within a line of writing. Internal vowel sounds are often repeated in words that don’t have the same ending. This helps the writer stress important words while setting the mood and creating a sense of rhythm.
In John Updike’s poem, Player Piano the line “never my numb plunker fumbles” is a great contrast to the poem’s title. Clunky, not melodic.
Rhythm is measured motion, based on patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables and sounds. Writers use rhythm to control what syllables are stressed in their work, creating feelings of varying movements in the writing—almost musical.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Psalm of Life uses a pattern where the first syllable is stressed, and the second syllable is not.
“Tell me not, in mournful numbers”
Here is a delightful excerpt from Emily Climbs by L.M. Montgomery. This piece of writing nearly sings!
“A great, pulsating star hung low in the sky over Indian Head. Emily gazed on it and recalled Teddy’s old fancy of his previous existence in a star. The idea seized on her imagination and she spun a dream-life, lived in some happy planet circling round that mighty, far-off sun. Then came the northern lights—drifts of pale fire over the sky—spears of light, as of empyrean armies—pale, elusive hosts retreating and advancing. Emily lay and watched them in rapture. Her soul was washed pure in that great bath of splendour. She was a high priestess of loveliness assisting at the divine rites of her worship—and she knew her goddess smiled.”
Here are some exercises to help write poetic prose:
The sparing use of the literary elements—alliteration, assonance, and rhymes—in prose can make it musical. Poetic. Too much might be distracting, but don’t shy away from playing with word sounds.
Do you add elements of poetry to your prose? What would you add to the lists for everyday assonance an alliteration in popular culture?
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About Ellen
Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents, and The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon chapter book series with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works in Progress are The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and The Crystal Key, MG Magical Realism/ Sci-Fi, a glaze of time travel.
Find her at https://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.
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Ellen, I love this so much! And not just because I jam on alliteration and assonance. I love this because I teach power techniques to financial types, I can give them this post!
Every writer develops a voice - the more you input, the better it will eventually be.
I homeschooled three kids - all the way to college-ready - and one of our literature references (wish I could remember the name!) was a book on poetry, with chapters on each of the techniques poets have used - I learned as much as the kids did!
Once you are alerted to something's existence, you start noticing it everywhere. I don't write much poetry now - I'm a mainstream novelist and my books tend to run long - but I like to put a few quotations/poems at the beginnings of chapters (as one of my mentors, Dorothy L. Sayers did).
Often I can find a biblical reference, or a Shakespeare or other playwright quote, or know of a poem - and providing the epigraphs is easy.
But when there's something I want in that slot, for that chapter, and I can't find it, I will write a haiku, or what purports to be a section of an epic poem, to hit the exact right note.
Here's one which may end up in the third volume, as the chaos begins:
The glass egg shatters.
No peace in the universe.
God can't mend it.
Tahiro Mizuki; trans. by R. Heath
[PS The poet and the translator are both fictional]
As long as my main aim, that everything serve the STORY, is accomplished, I have a little room to play. It's one of the joys of writing.
Hi Alicia!
If you ever run across the poetry book you mentioned, please let us know the title. There are so many different types of poems as well as different elements of poetry that can be use in prose.
Balance in all things.
Congratulations on your homeschooling. All the way through to college ready is a huge deal.
I adore reading poetic writing and aspire to do better. I use a lot of alliteration and try to be aware of rhythm in my own writing. Thank you for the post and the exercises...I'll be working on those.
Hi Lynette!
I need to use more poetic elements in my writing, and plan to use those exercises as well.
I'm happy that you can use them.
Hi Jenny!
That's awesome! I'm glad that the post is useful, and in an unexpected way.
great ideas
Thank you, Denise!
I'm glad you find them useful.
I haven't seen this talked about enough, Ellen. I love that you've covered it so well. I *LOVE* poetic prose. Dominion of Darkness was actually inspired by a poem that no one has ever heard of or that they'd recognize in the final version, a Middle English poem. I love it when the author pays attention to the sound and rhythm of the words and makes them come alive with that. Some of the greatest writers have had lyrical touches to their prose that help make them memorable.
Hi Lisa!
I am also a big fan of poetic prose. I'm glad that you find the blog helpful!
I love when it when the prose "sings."