Home › Glossary › Letter V

Versified prose

Form
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Prose written with rhythmic or metrical qualities resembling verse

Detailed Definition
Versified prose blends poetic techniques—such as heightened diction, rhythm, or imagery—into prose structure, creating a hybrid form that retains narrative flow while evoking lyric intensity; it occupies the boundary between essay, story, and poem.
Example
Example in poetry:
Versified prose: Biblical Psalms in poetic English (KJV); Nietzsche’s "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" blends aphorism and verse; Contemporary: Anne Carson’s "Autobiography of Red" mixes prose and lyric; Claudia Rankine’s "Citizen" versifies everyday speech
Additional Notes
Prose rewritten in verse form or prose-like poetry. Blurs genre boundaries. Related to prose poetry but maintains line breaks. Study with prose poetry for genre experimentation.
Also Known As
Prose poetry hybrid Lineated prose Rhythmic prose Measured prose
Skip to main content