Prosimetrum

A prosimetrum (plural prosimetra) is a poetic composition which exploits a combination of prose (prosa) and verse (metrum);[1] in particular, it is a text composed in alternating segments of prose and verse.[2] It is widely found in Western and Eastern literature.[2] While narrative prosimetrum may encompass at one extreme a prose story with occasional verse interspersed, and at the other, verse with occasional prose explanations, in true prosimetrum the two forms are represented in more equal measure.[3] A distinction is sometimes drawn[4] between texts in which verse is the dominant form and those in which prose dominates; there the terms prosimetrum and versiprose are applied respectively.

  1. ^ Braund, Susanna. "Prosimetrum". In Cancil, Hubert, and Helmuth Schneider, eds. Brill's New Pauly. Brill Online, 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  2. ^ a b Brogan, T.V.F. "Prosimetrum". In Green et al., pp. 1115–1116.
  3. ^ Harris & Reichl, p. 11.
  4. ^ Hanson, Kristin, and Paul Kiparsky. "The Nature of Verse and Its Consequences for the Mixed Form". In Harris & Reichl, p. 36.

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