polyphonic prose
- noun
- /ˌpɒliˈfɒnɪk proʊz/
- Literature
:
prosa polifónica
- The use of alliteration and assonance in polyphonic prose creates a rich auditory experience for the reader.
Examples
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The author experimented with polyphonic prose to give her narrative a lyrical, musical quality.
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Modernist writers often employed polyphonic prose in their attempts to blur the boundaries between poetry and prose.
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The poet experimented with polyphonic prose in her latest work.
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He wrote a piece of polyphonic prose that captivated the audience.
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The author experimented with polyphonic prose to give her narrative a lyrical, musical quality.
-
Modernist writers often employed polyphonic prose in their attempts to blur the boundaries between poetry and prose.
-
The use of alliteration and assonance in polyphonic prose creates a rich auditory experience for the reader.
How Musical
- Literature
- Literature
1
7.1
- Literature
1
5.6
46
3.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
If a learner knows 'polyphonic' (having multiple independent melodic lines or many sounds) and 'prose' (non-metrical written or spoken language), they can compose the meaning as 'prose with a musical or multi-voiced quality'—i.e. musical/rhythmical prose. The mapping from a musical adjective to a noun is a straightforward, compositional metaphor (music → quality of prose), so the expression is predictable from its parts.
Etymology
Polyphonic prose may come from the image of music inside writing: polyphonic means 'many voices' and prose means 'ordinary writing'. Writers used repeating sounds and a musical beat so the words act like different voices in a song, so the phrase now means 'prose that sounds musical'.