Modern english Quote by Iris Murdoch
““T. S. Eliot and Jean-Paul Sartre, dissimilar enough as thinkers, both tend to undervalue prose and to deny it any imaginative function. Poetry is the creation of linguistic quasi-things; prose is for explanation and exposition, it is essentially didactic, documentary, informative. Prose is ideally transparent; it is only faute de mieux written in words. The influential modern stylist is Hemingway. It would be almost inconceivable now to write like Landor. Most modern English novels indeed are not written . One feels they could slip into some other medium without much loss. It takes a foreigner like Nabokov or an Irishman like Beckett to animate prose language into an imaginative stuff in its own right.””
About This Quote
Source Essay: Literary criticism, 1970s
Prose is often seen as purely functional, lacking imaginative depth, unlike poetry which creates its own reality.
In simple terms: Prose is viewed as utilitarian, poetry as imaginative.
Key Takeaway
Recognize imagination can exist in prose.
Themes
literature
form
imagination
prose vs poetry
critical theory
Mood
analytical
thoughtful
Type
critical
philosophical
When to use this quote
- academic writing
- creative workshops
- literary analysis
- teaching writing
Key Concepts
philosophy
aesthetics
creative writing
Questions to Reflect On
- How can prose become more imaginative?
- What limits our view of prose?
A Different Perspective
Some prose achieves imagination without being labeled poetic.
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