1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,000 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 2 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:14,200 Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly 3 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:15,200 normal. 4 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:16,200 Thank you very much. 5 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:19,800 Oh, Captain, my Captain, our fearful trip is done. 6 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:20,800 My name is Ken Mears. 7 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,000 And I'm Melissa Fales. 8 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:47,360 And welcome to Writer's World. 9 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:51,080 Have you ever thought of how you learn to talk? 10 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:56,200 Just like how we learn to talk from our parents, people in England and Australia learn to talk 11 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,000 from their parents with an accent. 12 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:02,760 People in Elizabethan times had something similar. 13 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:08,200 The poor lowly people would learn from their parents a certain way to talk, which was different 14 00:01:08,200 --> 00:01:11,000 from how the Queen learned to talk. 15 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:16,920 And these two different ways of speaking is called poetry and prose. 16 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:23,880 In the images I will give you, you'll understand why I said the Queen and the lowly people. 17 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:28,920 But poetry is a collection of lines that follow a regular rhyming pattern. 18 00:01:28,920 --> 00:01:34,640 It is the umbrella in which couplets, quatrains, sonnets, iambic pentameter, and so forth lay 19 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:35,640 under. 20 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:41,120 It's something that the Queen would be educated enough that she could speak it and she would 21 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:42,120 understand it. 22 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:47,080 Prose is a form of language that has no regular pattern. 23 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:52,760 It is quote, a form or technique of language that exhibits a natural flow of speech and 24 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:53,760 grammar structure. 25 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:59,080 According to Wikipedia, the word prose first appeared in English in the 14th century. 26 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:05,640 It is derived from the old French prose, which in turn originates in the Latin expression, 27 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:08,200 which literally means straightforward or direct speech. 28 00:02:08,200 --> 00:02:14,000 And kind of how I'm thinking of it is if you are poor in mind and you don't have a lot 29 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:17,320 to say, it'll be more straightforward and direct. 30 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:21,400 Ken, why would someone consider using poetry or prose in their writing? 31 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:26,080 Well, prose is just a generally good thing to use because it gives a pattern and regularity 32 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:27,800 to your writing. 33 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:34,600 Prose could, in my opinion, even though I'm not the most educated on the topic, it could 34 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:39,680 also kind of be defined as your style, your writing prose will be fairly different than 35 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:40,800 mine. 36 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:44,920 So having prose of your own in your writing will be wise if you want to be recognizable 37 00:02:44,920 --> 00:02:46,840 through your text. 38 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:52,420 Now with poetry, you may want to use this if you want to be a bit more rhythmic or flowery 39 00:02:52,420 --> 00:02:53,420 with your words. 40 00:02:53,420 --> 00:02:58,240 Usually poetry is reserved as its own little thing while prose is used for literally everything 41 00:02:58,240 --> 00:02:59,880 from articles to novels. 42 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:04,320 Yeah, prose is the way we speak to each other in everyday language. 43 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:11,080 Poetries have it and you want to have your own distinct voice or prose and it's very, 44 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:14,520 very common and interesting to study. 45 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:17,640 Poetry on the other hand is heightened language. 46 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:23,440 For example, Shakespeare uses poetry in prose wordplay in his stories to number one, add 47 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:29,480 emphasis when a character is speaking, I pray you leave me is a way to be clear and get 48 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:31,200 a point across. 49 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:37,160 Number two, to create comic effect in a Midsummer's Night's Dream, which I'm sure some of you 50 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:42,880 are familiar with, there is a group of commoners who go to act out a play for the Duke and 51 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:47,640 while they are giving this play, they are talking in higher fancier language and it's 52 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:52,240 kind of funny because they're giving this comic relief trying to talk like fancy people 53 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:54,720 and they're doing a bad job. 54 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:58,800 And number three, to suggest a character's mental instability. 55 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:04,920 If I suddenly only talked in a southern accent, my mom would think I was crazy. 56 00:04:04,920 --> 00:04:09,720 Now imagine if a prince started talking like a commuter, the people around him would think 57 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:13,800 he was crazy and you get to see this in Shakespeare's Hamlet. 58 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:18,760 Hamlet, the main protagonist, starts to talk in prose and the people around him think he 59 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:19,760 is loony. 60 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:24,040 Ken, what has been your experience with poetry and prose? 61 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:25,600 Do you use them in your writing? 62 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:32,240 Well, of course I use prose because prose is writing itself, so I use it literally every 63 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:33,240 time I write. 64 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:39,360 When it comes to poetry, I don't use it quite as often, but I have written a fair amount. 65 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:42,040 I'll share a couple of my favorite poems I've written. 66 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:44,160 Excuse how long these are. 67 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:49,400 The first one is called Death Rides at Midnight and I wrote it during my Writetober challenge 68 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:50,400 last year. 69 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:54,040 Death rides at midnight, filling the land with blight. 70 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:58,320 He casts a frightful image as he rides through the village. 71 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:02,400 His frightful scythe gleams, wet with the blood of unrealized dreams. 72 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:07,120 The cold, hard metal is uncaring enough to unsettle. 73 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:13,040 Beneath his dark hood lies nothing good, only the husk of a man who signals the end of a 74 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:14,040 lifespan. 75 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:20,400 His skeletal horse he rides along his dutiful course, whinnying as he stops to kill the 76 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:21,960 farmer's crops. 77 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:25,160 It's all him and his duty to take away life's beauty. 78 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:30,160 Unbearable to a living man, the underworld's ghastly helmsman. 79 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:33,760 The pistol is his herald and his black cloak appareled. 80 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:36,760 Weapons of war bring him to the door. 81 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:44,960 His job is made no easier, nor and breezier, by mankind's love of violence or vile fraudulence. 82 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:49,520 All the thousands of young souls, lives lost without completing their goals, brought to 83 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:52,760 a swift end by death only to attend. 84 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:56,280 Death rides at midnight, filling the land with blight. 85 00:05:56,280 --> 00:06:03,460 He casts a frightful image as he rides through the village, searching for souls to pillage. 86 00:06:03,460 --> 00:06:06,200 And then this other one is a bit more recent. 87 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:10,200 It's called You're Crazy, and I wrote it after a chat with my parents about how crazy all 88 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:11,840 the stuff I do is. 89 00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:14,440 You're crazy, they say. 90 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:15,440 Am I crazy? 91 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:17,680 I hope so, I pray. 92 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:20,600 Am I crazy for having a bit of ambition? 93 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:23,640 Am I crazy for finding my life's mission? 94 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:26,720 Am I crazy because I have a purpose? 95 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:30,240 Am I crazy because I may seem multi-purpose? 96 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:33,700 Am I crazy because I want to inspire others? 97 00:06:33,700 --> 00:06:37,640 Am I crazy because my life seems to be another's? 98 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:40,720 Am I crazy because I stand for what I believe? 99 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:44,220 Am I crazy because I am not afraid to achieve? 100 00:06:44,220 --> 00:06:46,900 Am I crazy because I try and do? 101 00:06:46,900 --> 00:06:50,320 Am I crazy because I went and flew? 102 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:53,360 Am I crazy because I took that pain and hurt? 103 00:06:53,360 --> 00:06:57,080 Am I crazy because that put me on the outskirt? 104 00:06:57,080 --> 00:06:59,920 Am I crazy because I choose to care? 105 00:06:59,920 --> 00:07:03,960 Am I crazy because I do not wilt under another's glare? 106 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:10,440 No, I am not crazy because I stand alone, because I am not lazy and do not live as a 107 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:11,440 clone. 108 00:07:11,440 --> 00:07:17,960 If that makes me crazy, then I believe I am proud to be known as crazy because I am willing 109 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:19,480 to be loud. 110 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:23,000 I suppose I am crazy because I speak the truth. 111 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:26,400 I do not live life hazy, but always in youth. 112 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:29,000 You're crazy, they say. 113 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:30,200 Am I crazy? 114 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:31,800 I hope so, I pray. 115 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:33,200 That was amazing. 116 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:34,200 I loved it. 117 00:07:34,200 --> 00:07:35,200 Very good. 118 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:38,640 Ken, we live in the 21st century. 119 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:42,600 Is poetry still useful today, and your poetry was beautiful? 120 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,960 I was just wondering, do you think that it's still useful today? 121 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:53,520 I definitely think poetry is still very, very useful in our modern 21st century. 122 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:56,040 If anything, it's more useful than ever. 123 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:59,360 We live in a world that is fairly disconnected. 124 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:02,640 Many people are numb and not really in touch with their emotions. 125 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:09,200 Honestly, at times it feels a little bit like Fahrenheit 51, which is kind of scary. 126 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:13,700 But poetry has an odd way of connecting in a way most other forms of writing struggle 127 00:08:13,700 --> 00:08:14,700 to accomplish. 128 00:08:14,700 --> 00:08:19,000 Maybe it's the rhythm or the rhyming or the fancier words. 129 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:24,880 Whatever it is, it helps us snap out of what numbs us in our 21st century culture. 130 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:31,120 Very interesting point, throwing it old school because I can. 131 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:38,400 In fact, Shakespearean texts, you can tell because prose has run on lines, no rhyme or 132 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:42,600 metric schemes, and the quality is of everyday language. 133 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:48,280 While poetry with most poetry, each line begins with a capital letter and each line has a 134 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:50,800 defined length. 135 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:55,840 For modern and Shakespearean text, how to tell the difference between poetry and prose, 136 00:08:55,840 --> 00:09:00,040 your biggest clue is using the power of your ear. 137 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:04,520 The reason I'm bringing up Shakespeare is his name is the bard, which literally means 138 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:10,120 the poet and the best. 139 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:15,160 I'm going to read off some famous texts to you, Ken, and we will see if you can tell 140 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:18,440 the difference between prose and poetry. 141 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:23,680 I would highly recommend if you don't look at our show notes to look at the show notes 142 00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:28,320 to see how these examples are written, which is a huge help in figuring out the difference 143 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:29,320 between the two. 144 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:32,520 So Ken, your first challenge. 145 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:34,160 I do not like green eggs and ham. 146 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:35,640 I do not like them in a box. 147 00:09:35,640 --> 00:09:37,640 I do not like them with a fox. 148 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:39,520 I will not eat them in a house. 149 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:41,760 I do not like them with a mouse. 150 00:09:41,760 --> 00:09:43,360 I do not like them here or there. 151 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:45,040 I do not like them anywhere. 152 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:47,760 Is that poetry or prose? 153 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:49,360 Clearly that is poetry. 154 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:50,360 Yes. 155 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:51,360 Okay. 156 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:52,360 Ready to take it up? 157 00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:55,360 Look, I don't want to be half-blood. 158 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:59,320 If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is close this book 159 00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:00,320 right away. 160 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:04,920 Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth and try to live a normal 161 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:05,920 life. 162 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:08,560 Is that poetry or prose? 163 00:10:08,560 --> 00:10:10,040 That would be prose. 164 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:11,040 Okay. 165 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:15,240 Long ago, a great and powerful wizard trained two apprentices. 166 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:20,960 The apprentices were best friends, both with incredible natural abilities and harnessing 167 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:23,000 magic from the world around them. 168 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:24,640 Poetry or prose? 169 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:28,240 It's prose and not only is it prose, it's my own prose. 170 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:33,280 I was reading your book this weekend and I was like, well, this is the perfect opportunity. 171 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:34,280 Yeah. 172 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:39,800 So it's kind of clear to see and Ken was right on all of them, but it's kind of easy to see 173 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:43,920 like how prose is a certain way and poetry is another way. 174 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:47,240 But I just thought I wanted to make it a little bit clear. 175 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:52,320 Now that we have addressed the difference and you kind of have an idea of the difference 176 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,680 between the two, I think we can address another point. 177 00:10:55,680 --> 00:10:58,600 Ken, how does one write poetry? 178 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:00,480 That's hard to exactly say. 179 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:03,280 Honestly, you write poetry from the heart. 180 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:07,920 You pour out your emotions and find words to fit them in a rhythmic way. 181 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:14,000 When I write poetry, I usually pull up the website Rhyme Zone and use that to find words 182 00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:18,160 that rhyme or fit with what I'm trying to portray. 183 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:23,760 My usual form of poetry is pretty simple in four-sentence stanzas or sections with alternating 184 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:26,160 rhyming words at the end of sentences. 185 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:31,880 Really poetry is a hard topic to teach and I wish I could better explain how to do it. 186 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:35,760 And there's a lot of options and there's a lot of ways that you can do it. 187 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:41,200 And before we cover how to write prose, I wanted to briefly talk about why powerful 188 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:43,000 prose is important. 189 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:47,480 I think the best way to do this is to tell the story and then just hand over the time 190 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:51,240 to Ken to talk about how to write good prose. 191 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:55,440 This story is told by the author of The Chosen in an interview. 192 00:11:55,440 --> 00:12:00,480 He says, quote, I went to the public library and browsed around for a while and by sheer 193 00:12:00,480 --> 00:12:05,540 chance found Brideshed revisited by Evely Wing. 194 00:12:05,540 --> 00:12:07,520 I have no idea what attracted me to it. 195 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:11,000 Maybe it was the fact that it was about upper-class English Catholics. 196 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:15,160 I took the book home and at first found it difficult to get into. 197 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:19,400 But once I grew accustomed to the prose, I became utterly enchanted by the world and 198 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:20,900 by the prose. 199 00:12:20,900 --> 00:12:25,000 It was really the first time in my life that I understood the importance of language in 200 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:26,000 the writing of a story. 201 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:31,120 Most of the time, I wouldn't want the language to interfere with the story. 202 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:35,800 Reading the novel gave me a very vivid sense of the rhymes of the English language, its 203 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:40,280 texture, the way sentences can be constructed to obtain certain effects. 204 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:44,440 I remember that as I was reading it, I found myself thinking about the characters during 205 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:46,400 the times I was away from the book. 206 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:50,000 I would try to anticipate what their thoughts and feelings might be when I returned to the 207 00:12:50,000 --> 00:12:51,000 book. 208 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:56,160 I was utterly taken by the characters of the mother, her tendencies, her odd personalities, 209 00:12:56,160 --> 00:12:57,160 her faith. 210 00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:01,040 I remember closing the book when I finished reading it and feeling bereaved because all 211 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:02,840 the people I had read about were gone. 212 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:08,080 I remember sitting there saying to myself, what power there is in this kind of creativity, 213 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:09,080 end quote. 214 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:11,720 Ken, how do you write good prose? 215 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:15,000 I would say probably just simply by keeping it consistent. 216 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:19,840 Your prose should be distinctly your own because it is a part of your style, which should be 217 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:20,840 distinct. 218 00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:23,880 If you tend to be very solemn in your prose, do it that way. 219 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:26,520 If you tend to be more lighthearted, do likewise. 220 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:31,960 All in all, the best thing I can say with writing good prose is keep consistency. 221 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:33,760 We hope today's episode was helpful. 222 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:36,400 If you like our podcast, please share it with your friends and family. 223 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:43,800 For resources in the transcript, visit writersworldpodcast.weebly.com and our Instagram is writersworldpodcastofficial. 224 00:13:43,800 --> 00:13:46,400 Yes, a mouthful, but worth it. 225 00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:52,860 Our Patreon is patreon.com slash writersworldpodcast and if you want your questions answered. 226 00:13:52,860 --> 00:13:56,520 Our email is writersworldpodcast at gmail.com. 227 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:58,900 Until next time, I've been Ken Mears. 228 00:13:58,900 --> 00:14:01,320 And I've been Melissa Fales with Writers World. 229 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:09,720 And keep on writing.