Thread: RIP Lewis Turco
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Unread 10-04-2024, 10:29 PM
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R. S. Gwynn R. S. Gwynn is offline
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Ted, I did know him, but we hadn't spoken in some years because of this free verse/prose argument, about which Lew could be doctrinaire and unyielding. My point was that free verse was lineated and that prose wasn't; a piece of prose in a newspaper is chopped into 30-space lines; the same piece reprinted in a book may appear in 60+ space lines. Prose in print is usually righthand-justified. None of these changes affects its status as prose.

When we see a passage of verse inserted into a prose sentence, its line breaks are indicated by the / (virgule). If the quote is longer than a couple of lines it is indented and printed as it originally appeared. If the lines are measured in some pattern, it's metrical verse; if they're not, it's free.
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