How to Turn Prose Into Poetry
Identify the prose you want to use., Edit the title of the poem., Select a sentence of prose about the subject matter., Revise the sentence so it highlights the powerful idea., Continue selecting and revising sentences from your prose., Rearrange...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Identify the prose you want to use.
Before you can turn prose into poetry, you need the prose.
It can be something you’ve written personally (e.g. stories, essays, articles, etc.) or it can be a selection from another author.
However, regardless of who wrote the prose, it should have the following criteria:
The prose should have a clear topic, theme, or subject.
The prose should present a strong emotion, insight, or analysis. -
Step 2: Edit the title of the poem.
You may not be able to keep the title used for the prose, or the selection you’ve chosen may not have a specific title.
Either way, you need to create a title for the poem that foreshadows the subject of your prose (and eventually your poem)., Start by selecting the first sentence of the prose that relates to the subject, topic, or theme.
While you do not have to go in the same order as the prose is written, you may find it easier to do so, especially if it tells a specific story.For example, the following sentence from Michael J.
Bugeja’s article “Writing through Littleton” — Pundits tell us to lose the guns and hire more armed guards, blaming or pardoning parents in interactive debates. — could be used as a starting point. , The next step is to take the prose sentence and change it around so the subject, theme, or topic is more powerful and pronounced.
This revision should also include breaking the sentence into multiple pieces (if needed).
Whether you keep one sentence, or break it into multiple sentences, each sentence needs to begin and end with a noun, adjective, or verb.As a refresher:
A noun is something that is a person, place, thing, animal, or idea.
An adjective is a describing word used to qualify a noun (e.g. great, deep, little, bad, etc.).
A verb is a word that describes an action (e.g. talk, advise, hire, lose, etc.).
For example, Michael J.
Bugeja’s revised one sentence from his article “Writing through Littleton” to read as follows for his poem titled “Littleton":
The cable aftermath of talking heads Advising us to hire more armed guards To lose illegal guns.
Bulletins bombard , After you’ve revised the first sentence of your prose into one or more lines of poetry, keep going.
Select the next sentence you want to revise and so on.
Don’t stop until you feel your poem is complete.There’s no rule as to how short or how long the poem has to be, but the end should produce some sort of universal truth. , Simply translating your prose sentences into poetry statements may not be enough.
You may now need to go back through your poem and rearrange where the statements appear.
You may also have to add statements that help move the poem forward, but may not have been in the original prose.Again, there’s no rule as to when the poem is done, only that all the statements lead to an end that presents a universal truth. , To end the poem, express the universal truth you’ve been working towards as one sentence.
Imagine it like a punch line at the end of a joke — it has to make sense and put the whole poem into perspective.For example, in Michael J.
Bugeja’s poem “Littleton,” his last sentence and universal truth was simply When news was truth and not reality.
This one sentence sums up the truth of the poem which focused on the media coverage of the Columbine tragedy. , If you aren’t satisfied with the initial outcome of your poem, continue to work with it.
Add, remove, and revise statements until they have a continuous rhythm and tell the ‘story’ you’re looking to tell.The end result of your poem doesn’t have to be exactly like your prose.
The prose was simply a starting point. -
Step 3: Select a sentence of prose about the subject matter.
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Step 4: Revise the sentence so it highlights the powerful idea.
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Step 5: Continue selecting and revising sentences from your prose.
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Step 6: Rearrange statements as required.
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Step 7: Present the universal truth in one line.
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Step 8: Keep tinkering with your poem.
Detailed Guide
Before you can turn prose into poetry, you need the prose.
It can be something you’ve written personally (e.g. stories, essays, articles, etc.) or it can be a selection from another author.
However, regardless of who wrote the prose, it should have the following criteria:
The prose should have a clear topic, theme, or subject.
The prose should present a strong emotion, insight, or analysis.
You may not be able to keep the title used for the prose, or the selection you’ve chosen may not have a specific title.
Either way, you need to create a title for the poem that foreshadows the subject of your prose (and eventually your poem)., Start by selecting the first sentence of the prose that relates to the subject, topic, or theme.
While you do not have to go in the same order as the prose is written, you may find it easier to do so, especially if it tells a specific story.For example, the following sentence from Michael J.
Bugeja’s article “Writing through Littleton” — Pundits tell us to lose the guns and hire more armed guards, blaming or pardoning parents in interactive debates. — could be used as a starting point. , The next step is to take the prose sentence and change it around so the subject, theme, or topic is more powerful and pronounced.
This revision should also include breaking the sentence into multiple pieces (if needed).
Whether you keep one sentence, or break it into multiple sentences, each sentence needs to begin and end with a noun, adjective, or verb.As a refresher:
A noun is something that is a person, place, thing, animal, or idea.
An adjective is a describing word used to qualify a noun (e.g. great, deep, little, bad, etc.).
A verb is a word that describes an action (e.g. talk, advise, hire, lose, etc.).
For example, Michael J.
Bugeja’s revised one sentence from his article “Writing through Littleton” to read as follows for his poem titled “Littleton":
The cable aftermath of talking heads Advising us to hire more armed guards To lose illegal guns.
Bulletins bombard , After you’ve revised the first sentence of your prose into one or more lines of poetry, keep going.
Select the next sentence you want to revise and so on.
Don’t stop until you feel your poem is complete.There’s no rule as to how short or how long the poem has to be, but the end should produce some sort of universal truth. , Simply translating your prose sentences into poetry statements may not be enough.
You may now need to go back through your poem and rearrange where the statements appear.
You may also have to add statements that help move the poem forward, but may not have been in the original prose.Again, there’s no rule as to when the poem is done, only that all the statements lead to an end that presents a universal truth. , To end the poem, express the universal truth you’ve been working towards as one sentence.
Imagine it like a punch line at the end of a joke — it has to make sense and put the whole poem into perspective.For example, in Michael J.
Bugeja’s poem “Littleton,” his last sentence and universal truth was simply When news was truth and not reality.
This one sentence sums up the truth of the poem which focused on the media coverage of the Columbine tragedy. , If you aren’t satisfied with the initial outcome of your poem, continue to work with it.
Add, remove, and revise statements until they have a continuous rhythm and tell the ‘story’ you’re looking to tell.The end result of your poem doesn’t have to be exactly like your prose.
The prose was simply a starting point.
About the Author
Diana Jackson
Experienced content creator specializing in DIY projects guides and tutorials.
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