One of the essential characteristics of poetry is the line break. It is the most prominent feature distinguishing verse from prose. Even though much narrative prose employs metaphors and is written ...

I HAVE seen it stated that, when Tennyson’s Princess was published in the United States, two generations ago, it was the best-selling book in the country, and that Patmore’s The Angel in the House, ...

AMERICAN literature, excellent as it is by way of its poetry, is excellent much more by way of its prose. Received opinion, however, stands for the converse. Conscious that in emotion, invention, and ...

American prose poetry—a tradition extending from Robert Bly to Lyn Hejinian—has finally come into its own. Although prose poems defy easy classification—they are, as the name indicates, neither ...

The critic William Hazlitt (1778–1830), known best in his lifetime for his writing on Shakespeare, was a jack of all trades and a master of none too few, trying his deft hand at painting, philosophy, ...

“The prose poem has achieved an unprecedented level of popularity among American poets,” writes David Lehman, a poet and the series editor of the Best American Poetry series, published by Scribner. He ...

Joal Hetherington in her writing studio in Kittery Point, Me. This week on The Bookshelf from NHPR is author Joal (Jody) Hetherington. The prose poem is a rare literary hybrid—the music of poetry ...

TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online ...

Are you looking to be inspired by a new biography? What about cracking open a heart-racing thriller? There’s always romance, too, if you're in the mood for love. Whether you’re picking another book ...