‘Hidden’ Form: The Prose Poem in English Poetry

Abstract

This essay will acknowledge the prose poem as a ‘hidden’ form in English poetry, but will focus on the re-emergence of the British prose poem this century. I outline the practitioners and the exposure of the prose poem in publishing, and examine a number of key prose poets and works. Their poetry will be read in relation to the development of the prose poem on the one hand, and in relation to post avant-garde developments on the other. Attention is paid to how the prose poem is defined, the importance of the end-line, its relationship to fable and the occasional blurring with flash fiction. I will look at how poets are using prose and determine whether the prose poem affords more possibilities than closures.