Prose & Poetry—What’s the Difference?
Read the samples of writing and then compare both versions. As you notice similarities
and differences, write them on a Venn diagram. Use the clip art/graphics to guide you.
Prose version:
A woman stands on a mountain top with the cold seeping into her body. She
looks on the valley below as the wind whips around her. She cannot leave to go to the
peaceful beauty below.
In the valley, the sun shines from behind the clouds causing flowers to bloom.
A breeze sends quivers through the leaves of trees. The water gurgles in a brook. All
the woman can do is cry.
Poetry version
The Woman on the Peak
The woman stands upon the barren peak,
Gazing down on the world beneath.
The lonely chill seeps from the ground
Into her feet, spreading, upward bound.
The angry wind whistles ‘round her head,
Whipping her hair into streaming snakes,
While she watches, wishes, weakly wails.
Beyond the mountain, sunshine peeks,
Teasing flowers to survive and thrive.
The breeze whispers through the leaves,
Causing gentle quivers to sway the trees.
Laughter gurgles as the splashing brook
Playfully tumbles over rugged rocks,
While the woman above can only grieve.
It’s all about that
bass space!
How does each form of
writing use the space on
the page?
Capitalization
& Punctuation
Consider how each form
of writing uses these
conventions.
Eagles
Excerpts from PBS.org Nature
Their fierce portraits stare out from cave paintings crafted by long-forgotten Stone
Age masters. Their hooked beaks and deadly claws have adorned flags that led
armies from Rome to Germany into battle. The spot on which one landed dictated to
the ancient Aztecs the place where they were to build a city.
For centuries, these seemingly larger-than-life birds have fascinated and inspired
us…Using their massive, sharp talons, these giants can kill and carry off prey as
large as deer and monkeys. But not all eagles fit this stereotype: some are just small
balls of feathers content to flap short distances, dining on insects or even fruit…
The eleven sea eagles, which include America’s
beloved Bald Eagle, tend to specialize in eating
fish and water birds — some even hunt
flamingoes and poisonous sea snakes…
Usually, however, eagle eyes are too keen for the
birds to fly blindly into danger. In fact, eagles’
vision is among the sharpest of any animal.
Wedge-tailed Eagles, for instance, can see twice as
far as people. Studies suggest that some eagles
can spot an animal the size of a rabbit up to two
miles away…
The Eagle
Lord Alfred Tennyson, 1809 - 1892
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.