Prose poetry is a modern style developed to meet the psychological characteristics of people in modern society, such as sensitivity, thoughtfulness, complexity and meticulousness. Although 1000 years ago there were similar prose poems in China, and many European writers wrote poetry and prose in 16 and 17 centuries, 19 century later became popular as an independent literary style. Baudelaire, a French poet, was the first person who formally used the term "small prose poem" and deliberately adopted this genre. He believes that prose poetry is enough to adapt to the lyric soup of the soul, the fluctuation of dreams and the shock of consciousness. Prose poetry is an exotic product in China's new literature. Four Chapters of Classical Chinese Translation of Turgenev's Prose Poems, published in China Fiction Circle, Volume 2, No.7 19 15 (listed in the novel column at that time, translated by Liu Bannong), is the earliest translation of foreign prose poems in China. 19 18 New Youth Magazine published a translation of Liu Bannong's Indian work My Journey in the Snow. The explanation attached at the end of the article points out that this is a well-structured prose poem. The names of prose poems began to appear in China newspapers. On the nature and characteristics of this style, the literature Xunkan had a theoretical discussion in 1922, and Xidi (Zheng Zhenduo), Wang Pingling and others all expressed their own opinions.
On the Definition of Prose Poetry
First of all, prose poetry must have two characteristics:
First, prose poetry is a new style that poetry and prose penetrate and cross each other.
There is no doubt that prose poetry is the grafting of various essays and poems. Prose poetry has the amphibious characteristics of poetry and prose. Prose poetry not only absorbs the function of poetry to express subjective mind and emotion, but also absorbs the function of prose to express things freely and casually, so that the two are integrated and form their own uniqueness. It can be said that it is difficult to create prose poems if you are not familiar with poetry and prose. But is prose poetry a new style, or is it poetic prose, as some people say? The key depends on whether prose poetry has unique artistic characteristics, or what is the difference between prose poetry and poetry and lyric prose.
Secondly, prose poetry has its own unique way of looking at life, that is, expressing the mind or emotions and their fluctuations in a relatively free form. Generally speaking, prose poetry is a style to express personal thoughts or subjective feelings.
Baudelaire is one of the original creators of prose poetry. He once said: When our human ambitions are getting bigger and bigger, who hasn't dreamed of the mystery of prose poetry-the harmony in rhythm without rhythm and the ups and downs of thoughtful and incisive words, which are enough to cope with the ups and downs of mood, thoughts and changes in the perception of the soul. . He also said: the form of prose poetry is enough to adapt to the lyrical turmoil of the soul, the fluctuation of dreams and the shock of consciousness. Turbulence, ups and downs and shock are the main artistic features of prose poetry.
To illustrate the above two points, we must further distinguish prose poetry from poetry and prose (especially lyric prose).
Second, the difference between prose poetry and poetry, and prose (especially lyric prose). For example, differences in structure, style and rhythm.
(1) The difference between prose poetry and lyric poetry. Lyrics should pay attention to the regularity of sentence patterns or general regularity and musical rhythm, so even free-form lyrics cannot but be restricted in expressing thoughts or emotions. It is in order to break through the limitations and write the true state of mind more freely that prose poetry was born.
The difference between prose poetry and poetry is that prose poetry often uses the means of description and discussion.
Compared with poetry, prose poetry has no rhythm, rhythm, syllables, lines and arrangement, that is, it has no fetters of external forms of poetry. Prose poetry has at least the following forms: the form of prose, and the form of staggered prose poetry, that is, the whole paragraph of prose words and single sentences (poems) are staggered. This is a free form that lyric poetry can't have.
(2) Prose poetry and lyric prose are both lyrical, but the unique artistic feature of prose poetry is its turbulence, ups and downs and shock.
It is not difficult to distinguish prose poetry from lyric prose by acknowledging that prose poetry is a style to express the mind or emotion and its fluctuation. Lyric prose is always inseparable from documentary, not to mention those narrative essays that mainly describe real people and things. Prose poems hardly record real people and real things. Even what we call documentary prose poetry is actually an inner impression of real life, but this impression is rarely distorted and rarely reflects real life imaginatively.
Structurally, some people say that poetry reflects life with lines, prose reflects life with faces, and prose poetry reflects life with points. Prose often has the length of time and space and clues; Prose poetry needs no clues, and its length is short. It is often radiated by the author's emotional ignition point, while the internal emotions form interlocking emotional shock waves, which impulse the reader's heartstrings and enter the realm of poetry.
Stylistically, the language of prose poetry is lyrical and imaginative, while the language of prose is narrative and realistic. The language of prose poetry has incomparable flexibility, richness and uncertainty, and its emotional content and aesthetic content are relatively large. Prose is a kind of writing, the language requires conciseness and freedom, but also eloquence, which makes the author's feelings clear, lyrical and more closely related. Prose poetry is poetry, and language needs concentration and jumping. Generally, images are connected by jumping, and the relationship between sentences, especially paragraphs, is often like a broken relationship, leaving readers with more blank beauty to imagine.
Therefore, prose poetry is neither prose poetry nor poetic prose, but a style with integrity, particularity and independence.
On the Structure of Prose Poetry
The basic ways of prose poetry structure can be divided into four categories: documentary (direct expression), imagination, philosophy and symbol.
1, documentary (direct expression), that is, the intention is like a table, relatively exposed. Such as lyrical scenery, lyrical narrative and so on. In other words, the mind feels that the external world is basically primitive, and what is projected on the mind rarely changes. This method is usually used in prose poems that express their feelings directly.