Rhymed prose is a literary form and literary genre, written in unmetricalrhymes. This form has been known in many different cultures. In some cases the rhymed prose is a distinctive, well-defined style of writing. In modern literary traditions the boundaries of poetry are very broad (free verse, prose poetry, etc.), and some works may be described both as prose and poetry.
A Chinese form of elaborate rhymed prose called fu developed as the major literary form particularly associated with the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE). Generally, the fu type of rhymed prose describes an object, feeling, or other particular subject, using an exhaustive catalog of details and associated vocabulary, and characteristically used both rhyme and prose, variable line lengths, alliteration, onomatopoeia, and some parallelism. Topics of fu rhymed prose could vary from the exalted to the everyday: it was sometimes used to eloquently glorify the emperors; but, other topics of well-known fu included encyclopedic catalogs of minerals, types of pasta, and the species of plants a poet might expect to encounter during an exile due to political disfavor. The style of the National Anthem of the Republic of China follows that of a four-characterpoem (四言詩), also called a four-character rhymed prose (四言韻文), which first appeared during the Zhou dynasty. The fu literary form was at first classed with poetry, but later bibliographies classified fu at the head of prose works.[3]
Indian culture
Rhymed prose was common in early Khariboli[which?] Hindi texts, such as Premsagar (Prem Sagur) by Lallu Lal[4] and Naasiketopaakhyan by Sadal Mishra, in early 19th century but gradually fell into disuse.[5] The paper traces possible origins of the Hindi rhyming prose in Islamic and Sanskrit literature.
European cultures
Rhymed prose was a characteristic feature of the Divine Office until the end of the 12th century. A type of the "rhymed office" were offices in rhymed prose, i.e., in irregular rhythm. Later it was gradually replaced by rhythmical office.[6] They were popular in France and Germany, and a number of prominent composers of rhymed offices are known.
^Wilhelm, Hellmut (1967 [1957]). "The Scholar's Frustration: Notes on a Type of Fu", in Chinese Thought and Institutions, John K. Fairbank, editor. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, page 310.