What Are the Two Divisions of Literature?
The two divisions of literature are prose and poetry. While prose is written in a straightforward manner to appeal to the reader’s intellect, poetry has a more rhythmic, imaginative tone used to awaken the reader’s emotion.
Prose is written in paragraph form and is meant to reflect common, everyday language. The chief objectives of prose are to inform or educate the reader, or instruct the reader to do something. Examples of prose include a novel, essay, letter or biography.
Poetry is written in verse form, with the express intent to appeal to the reader’s emotion. It relies heavily on the use of metaphors and abstract language to encourage the readers to use their imagination. Examples of poetry include a ballad, an epic, a sonnet or a song.
