Prose: an Overview Analysis of Narration

According to most dictionaries and literature resources, prose is the ordinary form of written language which is not poetry, drama, or song. Prose is one of the major genres of literature that occurs in two forms: fiction and non-fiction. Prose expresses thought through language recorded in sentences and paragraphs.

Note that prose includes fiction (short stories, novels) and non-fiction (articles, essays, journals, biographies, autobiographies, memoirs). It does not include poetry, drama, or lyrics, which are genres in themselves. Non-fiction prose can be divided into three kinds: narration, description, and exposition.

Narration is a form of prose used to recount an event or a series of events. Narration can be fiction or non-fiction; however, we are going to look at the non-fiction aspect: narrative essay or simple narrative, a chronological in arrangement of details. This type of narration isn’t concerned about motives, only with action and happenings. The action of the story or report must be organized and be presented as a series of scenes with a beginning, middle, and end.

Historians and reporters use narratives to give readers, or listeners, an account of something that happened. The end of the narrative may be first, then the beginning and middle; but usually, the account is in simple chronological order.

A narrative usually begins by giving the information when, where, and to whom the action occurred. What happens and what it means are sometimes inseparable, but there is at least some meaning to a narrative, even if slight. If a writer tells the story well, its meaning will take care of itself.

The point of a narrative is best left to the reader. A well-written narrative implies its meaning, but the writer’s task is to concentrate on the story itself. If he writes a narrative after selecting and arranging its details well, the meaning will be communicated.

However the narration is organized, it should be brought to a close with action completed. A story should never just stop.

Specifics of types of narratives and more details can be found in many articles, books, and texts. This overview gives a beginning point for writers.

Sources:

1. Writing Prose: Techniques and Purposes, Oxford University Press.

2. A Handbook to Literature, C. Hugh Holman

3. Notes and lesson plans by Vivian Zabel

Vivian Gilbert Zabel taught English, composition, and creative writing for twenty-five years, honing her skills as she studied and taught. An author on http://www.Writing.Com/, a site for Writers, her portfolio is http://www.Writing.Com/authors/vzabel. Her books, Hidden Lies and Other Stories and Walking the Earth: Life’s Perspectives in Poetry, can be found through Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com.

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