Prose is written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech in everyday grammatical structure, rather than a rhythmic structure like poetry. It comes in various forms like fiction, non-fiction, novels, short stories, memoirs, and autobiographies. Fiction is imaginative or made-up works, while non-fiction presents factual information. Short stories are brief works of around 1,000-20,000 words that focus on one main plotline. Novellas are longer at 20,000-50,000 words. Novels exceed 50,000 words and can have multiple plotlines. Autobiographies tell the author's life story from their perspective.

1. Introduction to Prose
Dr Prasanth V G
Associate Professor & The Head,
Department of English,
RSM SNDP Yogam College, Koyilandy

2. Introduction to Prose: An Overview
Prose is verbal or written language that follows the natural
flow of speech. It is the most common form of writing, used
in both fiction and non-fiction. Prose comes from the Latin
“prosa oratio,” meaning “straightforward” or “direct speech”.
First appeared in English in the 14th century, derived from old
French prose
In writing, prose refers to any written work that follows a
basic grammatical structure (words and phrases arranged into
sentences and paragraphs). This stands out from works of
poetry, which follow a metrical structure (lines and stanzas).
Prose simply means language that follows the natural
patterns found in everyday speech.

3. Introduction to Prose : An Overview
Prose is a form of language that follows ordinary
grammatical structure, rather than rhythmic structure, such as
in the case of traditional poetry.
Normal everyday speech is spoken in prose, and most people
think and write in prose form. Prose comprises of full
grammatical sentences, which consist of paragraphs, and
forgoes aesthetic appeal in favor of clear, straightforward
language. It can be said to be the most reflective of
conversational speech. Some works of prose do have
versification, and a blend of the two formats that is called
“prose poetry.”

4. Introduction to Prose: Fiction and Non-Fiction
Prose can vary depending according to style and purpose. There are four
distinct types of prose that writers use:
Nonfictional prose. Prose that is a true story or factual account of events or
information is nonfiction. Textbooks, newspaper articles, and instruction
manuals all fall into this category. Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl,
composed entirely of journal excerpts, recounts the young teen’s experience
of hiding with her family in Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II.
Fictional prose. A literary work of fiction. This is the most popular type of
literary prose, used in novels and short stories, and generally
has characters, plot, setting, and dialogue.

5. Introduction to Prose: Types
Heroic prose. A literary work that is either written down or preserved
through oral tradition, but is meant to be recited. Heroic prose is
usually a legend or fable. The twelfth-century Irish tales revolving
around the mythical warrior Finn McCool are an example of heroic
prose.
Prose poetry. Poetry written in prose form. This literary hybrid can
sometimes have rhythmic and rhyming patterns. French poet Charles
Baudelaire wrote prose poems, including “Be Drunk” which starts
off: “You have to be always drunk. That’s all there is to it–it’s the
only way”.

6. Introduction to Prose: Prose v/s Poetry
Prose
* Follows natural patterns of speech and communication
* Has a grammatical structure with sentences and paragraphs
* Uses everyday language
* Sentences and thoughts continue across lines
Poetry
* Traditional poetry has deliberate patterns, such as rhythm and rhyme
* Many poems have a formal metrical structure—repeating patterns of beats
* Incorporates more figurative language
* Poems visually stand out on a page with narrow columns, varying line lengths,
and more white space on a page than prose
* Deliberate line breaks

7. Introduction to Prose : Prose v/s Poetry
Example of a Poetry Verse vs. the Prose Form
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
(Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost)
Prose Form
“The woods look lovely against the setting darkness and as I gaze into the mysterious
depths of the forest, I feel like lingering here longer. However, I have pending
appointments to keep, and much distance to cover before I settle in for the night, or else I
will be late for all of them.”
The above paragraph is conveying a similar message, but it is conveyed in ordinary
language, without a formal metrical structure to bind it.

8. Introduction to Prose: Fiction
A work of fiction is created in the imagination of its author. The author invents
the story and makes up the characters, the plot or storyline, the dialogue and
sometimes even the setting. A fictional work does not claim to tell a true story.
Instead, it immerses us in experiences that we may never have in real life,
introduces us to types of people we may never otherwise meet and takes us to
places we may never visit in any other way. Fiction can inspire us, intrigue us,
scare us and engage us in new ideas. It can help us see ourselves and our world
in new and interesting ways.
Fiction is made up, you need to use your imagination when you are writing it.
Types of fiction include plays, stories and poems.
There are many different types of non-fiction writing, such as newspapers,
adverts, brochures, reference books and biographies. A non-fiction book is
about facts. You can't just make it up.

9. Introduction to Prose: Fiction and Non-Fiction
Fiction stories are all made up. All the characters and places come from the
authors’ imagination. Non-fiction writing, on the other hand, is fact-based and
informative. Fiction books are written for entertaining readers and the non-fiction
books are written to give more knowledge to the readers. Examples of fictions are
novels and short stories. History books and autobiography are non-fictions.
In fiction, the writer can go along with his or her imagination without any limit.
They can elaborate on a plot or character as far as their imagination goes. In non-
fiction, the writer has to be straight forward. There is no scope for any
imagination. It is actually reallocation of facts.
The story that is written by a fictional writer can be interpreted in various ways
by the audience. But non-fiction writings are simple and direct. They can have
only one interpretation.

10. Introduction to Prose: Types
In non-fiction writing, you may need to give references for your writing and
include quotes to the story. This is needed to make your story or writing more
credible. But in fiction writing, no such references are required.
There are three main types of fiction: the short story, the novella and the novel.
Let's explore each of these.
First, we have the short story. According to the famous short story writer Edgar
Allan Poe, a short story is a piece of fiction that can be read in one sitting of
about a half hour to about two hours. Short stories contain between 1,000 and
20,000 words and typically run no more than 25 or 30 pages. Because of their
limited length, short stories generally focus on one major plot or storyline and a
few characters

11. Introduction to Prose: Novel
Novellas are longer than short stories and tend to run about 20,000 to
50,000 words, usually between 60 and 120 pages. Because novellas
have more room to work with, they typically have a more complex plot
or storyline and more characters than short stories. Famous novellas
include Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde and Jack London's The Call of the Wild.
A novel is a work of fiction that contains over 50,000 words or 120
pages. Novels are even more complex than novellas, and they usually
have more than one plot or storyline and many well-developed
characters. Novels can be as long as their authors want them to be. There
is no outer limit to their length. In fact, the longest novel ever written in
English is Marienbad My Love (Condensed Title) by Mark Leach.

12. Introduction to Prose: Short Story
Short story, brief fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and that usually deals
with only a few characters.
The short story is usually concerned with a single effect conveyed in only one or a few
significant episodes or scenes. The form encourages economy of setting, concise narrative,
and the omission of a complex plot; character is disclosed in action and dramatic encounter
but is seldom fully developed. Despite its relatively limited scope, though, a short story is
often judged by its ability to provide a “complete” or satisfying treatment of its characters and
subject.
Before the 19th century the short story was not generally regarded as a distinct literary form.
But although in this sense it may seem to be a uniquely modern genre, the fact is that short
prose fiction is nearly as old as language itself. Throughout history humankind has enjoyed
various types of brief narratives: jests, anecdotes, studied digressions, short allegorical
romances, moralizing fairy tales, short myths, and abbreviated historical legends. None of
these constitutes a short story as it has been defined since the 19th century, but they do make
up a large part of the milieu from which the modern short story emerged.

13. Introduction to Prose: Short Story
As a genre, the short story received relatively little critical attention through the
middle of the 20th century, and the most valuable studies of the form were often
limited by region or era.
The prevalence in the 19th century of two words, “sketch” and “tale,” affords one way
of looking at the genre. In the United States alone there were virtually hundreds of
books claiming to be collections of sketches or collections of tales like Poe’s Tales of
the Grotesque and Arabesque, Herman Melville’s The Piazza Tales. These two terms
establish the polarities of the milieu out of which the modern short story grew.
Basically, the tale is a manifestation of a culture’s unaging desire to name and
conceptualize its place in the cosmos. The sketch, by contrast, is intercultural,
depicting some phenomenon of one culture for the benefit or pleasure of a second
culture
The modern short story, then, ranges between the highly imaginative tale and the
photographic sketch and in some ways draws on both.

14. Introduction to Prose: Short Story
The short stories of Ernest Hemingway, for example, may often gain their force
from an exploitation of traditional mythic symbols (water, fish, groin wounds),
but they are more closely related to the sketch than to the tale. Indeed,
Hemingway was able at times to submit his apparently factual stories as
newspaper copy. In contrast, the stories of Hemingway’s contemporary William
Faulkner more closely resemble the tale. Faulkner seldom seems to understate,
and his stories carry a heavy flavour of the past. Both his language and his
subject matter are rich in traditional material.
The evolution of the short story first began before humans could write. To aid in
constructing and memorizing tales, the early storyteller often relied on stock
phrases, fixed rhythms, and rhyme. Consequently, many of the oldest narratives
in the world, such as the ancient Babylonian tale the Epic of Gilgamesh, are in
verse.

15. Introduction to Prose: Tales
The earliest tales extant from Egypt were composed on papyrus at a comparable date. The
ancient Egyptians seem to have written their narratives largely in prose, apparently
reserving verse for their religious hymns and working songs. One of the earliest surviving
Egyptian tales, “The Shipwrecked Sailor” (c. 2000 BCE), is clearly intended to be a
consoling and inspiring story to reassure its aristocratic audience that apparent misfortune
can in the end become good fortune.
The earliest tales from India are the tales in the Pali language, the Jatakas. Although these
tales have a religious frame that attempts to recast them as Buddhist ethical teachings,
their actual concern is generally with secular behaviour and practical wisdom. Another,
nearly contemporaneous collection of Indian tales, the Panchatantra (c. 100 BCE–
500 CE), has been one of the world’s most-popular books. This anthology of amusing and
moralistic animal tales, akin to those of “Aesop” in Greece, was translated into Middle
Persian in the 6th century; into Arabic in the 8th century; and into Hebrew, Greek, and
Latin soon thereafter. Sir Thomas North’s English translation appeared in 1570.

16. Introduction to Prose: Tales
Nearly all of the ancient tales, whether from Israel, India, Egypt, or the Middle
East, were fundamentally didactic. Some of those ancient stories preached by
presenting an ideal for readers to imitate. Others tagged with a “moral” were
more direct. Most stories, however, preached by illustrating the success and joy
that was available to the “good” individual and by conveying a sense of the terror
and misery that was in store for the wayward.
In Europe, short narrative received its most refined treatment in the Middle Ages
from Geoffrey Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio. The versatility Chaucer
displays in The Canterbury Tales (1387–1400) reflects the versatility of the age.
The frame of the Decameron (from the Greek deka, 10, and hēmera, day) has
relevance as well: during the height of the Black Plague in Florence, Italy, 10
people meet and agree to amuse and divert each other by telling 10 stories each.

17. Introduction to Prose: Short Fiction
The 17th and 18th centuries mark the temporary decline of short fiction in the
West. The causes of this phenomenon are many: the emergence of the novel.
Another cause for the disappearance of major works of short fiction is suggested
by the growing preference for journalistic sketches. Travel books, criminal
biographies, social description, sermons, and essays occupied the market.
In the first half of the 20th century the appeal of the short story continued to
grow. Literally hundreds of writers—including, as it seems, nearly every major
dramatist, poet, and novelist—published thousands of excellent stories. In the
20th century Germany, France, Russia, and the U.S. lost what had once appeared
to be their exclusive domination of the form. Innovative and commanding writers
emerged in places that had previously exerted little influence on the genre: Luigi
Pirandello; Franz Kafka; Jorge Luis Borges.

18. Introduction to Prose: Autobiography
Autobiography, the biography of oneself narrated by oneself. Autobiographical works
can take many forms, from the intimate writings made during life that were not
necessarily intended for publication (including letters, diaries, journals, memoirs, and
reminiscences) to a formal book-length autobiography.
Formal autobiographies offer a special kind of biographical truth: a life, reshaped by
recollection, with all of recollection’s conscious and unconscious omissions and
distortions. The novelist Graham Greene said that, for this reason, an autobiography is
only “a sort of life” and used the phrase as the title for his own autobiography (1971).
There are but few and scattered examples of autobiographical literature in antiquity and
the Middle Ages. Saint Augustine’s Confessions, written about 400 CE, stands out as
unique: though Augustine put Christianity at the centre of his narrative and considered
his description of his own life to be merely incidental, he produced a powerful personal
account, stretching from youth to adulthood, of his religious conversion.

19. Introduction to Prose: Autobiography
Types of Autobiography
There are many types of autobiographies. Authors must decide what purpose they have
for writing about their lives, and then they can choose the format that would best tell
their story. Most of these types all share common goals: helping themselves face an
issue by writing it down, helping others overcome similar events, or simply telling
their story.

20. Introduction to Prose: Autobiography
a. Full autobiography (traditional):
This would be the complete life story, starting from birth through childhood,
young adulthood, and up to the present time at which the book is being written.
Authors might choose this if their whole lives were very different from others and
could be considered interesting.
b. Memoir
There are many types of memoirs – place, time, philosophic (their theory on life),
occupational, etc. A memoir is a snapshot of a person’s life. It focuses on one
specific part that stands out as a learning experience or worth sharing.
c. Psychological illness
People who have suffered mental illness of any kind find it therapeutic to write
down their thoughts. Therapists are specialists who listen to people’s problems
and help them feel better, but many people find writing down their story is also
helpful.

21. Introduction to Prose: Autobiography
d. Confession
Just as people share a psychological illness, people who have done something very
wrong may find it helps to write down and share their story. Sharing the story may
make one feel he or she is making amends (making things right), or perhaps hopes that
others will learn and avoid the same mistake.
e. Spiritual
Spiritual and religious experiences are very personal. However, many people feel that
it’s their duty and honor to share these stories. They may hope to pull others into their
beliefs or simply improve others’ lives.
f. Overcoming adversity
Unfortunately, many people do not have happy, shining lives. Terrible events such as
robberies, assaults, kidnappings, murders, horrific accidents, and life-threatening
illnesses are common in some lives. Sharing the story can inspire others while also
helping the person express deep emotions to heal.

22. Introduction to Prose: Autobiography
Autobiographies are a way for people to share stories that may educate, inform,
persuade, or inspire others. Many people find writing their stories to be
therapeutic, healing them beyond what any counseling might do or as a part of the
counseling. Autobiographies are also a way to keep history alive by allowing
people in the present learn about those who lived in the past. In the future, people
can learn a lot about our present culture by reading autobiographies by people of
today.
Biography
The life story of one person written by another. The purpose may to be highlight
an event or person in a way to help the public learn a lesson, feel inspired, or to
realize that they are not alone in their circumstance. Biographies are also a way to
share history. Historic and famous people may have their biographies written by
many authors who research their lives years after they have died.

23. Introduction to Prose: Autobiography
Biography, form of literature commonly considered nonfictional, the subject
of which is the life of an individual. One of the oldest forms of literary
expression, it seeks to re-create in words the life of a human being—as
understood from the historical or personal perspective of the author—by
drawing upon all available evidence, including that retained in memory as well
as written, oral, and pictorial material.
Biography is sometimes regarded as a branch of history. Both biography and
history, however, are often concerned with the past, and it is in the hunting
down, evaluating, and selection of sources that they are akin. In this sense
biography can be regarded as a craft rather than an art: techniques of research
and general rules for testing evidence can be learned by anyone and thus need
involve comparatively little of that personal commitment associated with art.

24. Introduction to Prose: Newspaper/Journal Articles
News Reports - these are found at the front of a newspaper. They inform readers about
things that are happening in the world or in the local area. They will be full of facts, like
names, dates and places, as well as points of view, eg. “Local opinion is still divided over
plans to open a new shopping centre.” Reports tend to have a more formal, neutral tone.
Feature articles - these explore the issues raised by news stories in more depth. For
example, a report about young children left home alone could inspire a feature article on the
difficulties of finding childcare providers in the local area. A feature article tends to be more
opinionated and less formal than a report, often taking a personal point of view.
Editorials, columns and opinion pieces - these are pieces by 'personality' writers, often
celebrities in other fields. They might be there to inform (because the writer's expert opinion
is valued), or they might be there to entertain (because the writer has a comic or interesting
way of describing everyday life). Columnists develop a style of their own – for
example, polemical or sarcastic. They create this style through vocabulary choices
and rhetorical devices. They might use informal language to convey their idiolect. This
individual style appeals to their audience

25. Introduction to Prose: Philosophical/Scientific Essays
Philosophical essays prove some point through the use of rational argument. A
philosophical essay is not about flowery language, story-telling techniques, or
surprising the reader. The beauty of a philosophical essay is found in your ideas;
the language that you use is only a tool for conveying these ideas to the reader. The
art is in proving one’s point clearly. A philosophical argument should lead the
reader in undeniable logical steps from obviously true premises to an unobvious
conclusion.
A scientific essay is an article whereby you have to analyze a scientific issue or
problem and then try to develop a solution on the basis of factual information and
perhaps provide some of your opinions on the matter as well. Essays on science are
different from other types of essays on the basis of the freedom they allow. In other
types of essays, you can express yourself. But, in scientific essays, there is little to
no room to do so. Contrariwise, science essays seek out impartial logicality and
accurate knowledge. Also, these essays test your judgment skills and analysis

26. Introduction to Prose: Travelogues
A travelogue is a person’s account of a journey to another country or place.
It can either be a written report with many factual details or a narrative story
about personal impressions and experiences supported by images. It can be
either a written report with many factual details or a narrative story about
personal impressions and experiences supported by images.

27. Introduction to Prose: Speech
It’s a formal address or discourse delivered to an audience. It enables a person to
connect to a large number of people. The four basic types of speeches are: to
inform, to instruct, to entertain, and to persuade.
Informative – This speech serves to provide interesting and useful information
to your audience. Some examples of informative speeches:
e.g. A teacher telling students about earthquakes
Demonstrative Speeches – This has many similarities with an informative
speech. e.g. How to start your own blog
Persuasive – A persuasive speech works to convince people to change
in some way. e.g. Become an organ donor
Entertaining — The after-dinner speech is a typical example of an entertaining
speech. The speaker provides pleasure and enjoyment that make the audience
laugh or identify with anecdotal information.

28. Introduction to Prose: Functions of Prose
Prose is a form or technique of language that exhibits a natural flow of speech and
grammatical structure. Novels, textbooks and newspaper articles are all examples of
prose. The word prose is frequently used in opposition to traditional poetry, which is
language with a regular structure and a common unit of verse based on metre or
rhyme.
However, as T S Eliot noted, whereas the distinction between verse and prose is
clear, the distinction between poetry and prose is obscure; developments in modern
literature, including free verse and prose poetry, have led to the two techniques
indicating two ends on a spectrum of ways to compose language, as opposed to two
discrete options.
Prose is used when the writer wants to tell a story in a straightforward manner. It
should be used when the writer wants their writing to resemble everyday speech

29. Introduction to Prose: Evolution of Prose
The earliest English prose work, the Anglo-Saxon law code of King
Aethelbert I of Kent (560 - 616), was written within a few years of the
arrival in England (597) of St. Augustine of Canterbury (the first
Archbishop of Canterbury and the apostle to England who founded the
Christian church in England). Other 7th and 8th century prose, similarly
practical in character, includes more laws, wills, and characters.
According to Cuthbert, who was a monk at Jarrow, Saint Bede (672 -
735), the English Benedictine monk at the monastery of St Peter, at the
time of his death had just finished a translation of the Gospel of St.
John, though this does not survive. Two medical tracts, Herbarium and
Medicina de quadrupedibus, very likely date from the 8th century.

30. Introduction to Prose: Early Translations
The earliest literary prose dates from the late 9th century, when
King Alfred, eager to improve the state of English learning, led a
vigorous program to translate into English “certain books that are
necessary for all men to know.” Alfred himself translated the Pastoral
Care of St. Gregory I the Great, the Consolation of Philosophy of
Boethius, the Soliloquies of St. Augustine of Hippo, and the first 50
Psalms. His Pastoral Care is a fairly literal translation, but his Boethius
is extensively restructured and revised to make explicit the Christian
message that medieval commentators saw in that work. He revised
the Soliloquies even more radically, departing from his source to draw
from Gregory and St. Jerome, as well as from other works by Augustine.
Alfred’s prefaces to these works are of great historical interest.

31. Introduction to Prose: Early Translations
At Alfred’s urging, Bishop Werferth of Worcester translated
the Dialogues of Gregory; probably Alfred also inspired anonymous
scholars to translate Bede’s Historia ecclesiastica and Paulus
Orosius’s Historiarum adversum paganos libri vii (Seven Books of
History Against the Pagans). Both of these works are much abridged;
the Bede translation follows its source slavishly, but the translator of
Orosius added many details of northern European geography and also
accounts of the voyages of Ohthere the Norwegian and Wulfstan the
Dane. These accounts, in addition to their geographical interest, show
that friendly commerce between England and Scandinavia was
possible even during the Danish wars.

32. Introduction to Prose: Early Translations
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle probably originated in Alfred’s reign.
Its earliest annals (beginning in the reign of Julius Caesar)
are laconic, except the entry for 755, which records in detail a feud
between the West Saxon king Cynewulf and the would-be usurper
Cyneheard. The entries covering the Danish wars of the late 9th
century are much fuller, and those running from the reign
of Ethelred II to the Norman Conquest in 1066 (when the Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle exists in several versions) contain many passages
of excellent writing. The early 10th century is not notable for literary
production.

33. Introduction to Prose: King Alfred
The King Alfred the Great, ruled England in 9th century AD. One
among the 3 great prose writers along with Aelfric and Wulfstan.
Father of English Prose- education was encouraged- Anglo Saxon
as medium of instruction from Latin- a generation of educated
people.
Best known translations:
Gregory’s Pastoral Care
Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of England
Orosius History of the World

34. Introduction to Prose: Anglo Saxon Chronicle, Homilies
Compilation of the history of the Anglo Saxons in old English.
Original created in late 9th century during the reign of Alfred the
Great. The single most historical document between the departure
of Romans to the Norman conquest.
A homily is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture.
Derived from the Greek word homilia, meaning communication.
Earlier considered synonymous with sermon. The aim is to
explain the literal and to evolve the spiritual meaning of the
sacred text- Oldest form of Christian preaching- Reading
scriptures in the church like God speaking to the people, so need
to attend with reverence-Sermon (moral) in non-religious context.

35. Introduction to Prose: Bible Translations
With the spread of Christianity, the need to read the Bible in local
language has created widespread translation- Latin was the
language of early Bible.
First English translation in 14th century by John Wycliff-
resistance for translating the word of God- two translations: literal
and sense oriented- persecuted as heretics.
Invention of printing press in 1450 triggered number of
translations- fall of Constantinople in 1453 and Protestant
Reformation in 1517 made vernacular translations.
King James Bible in 1611 known as Authorized Version.

36. Introduction to Prose: Secular Prose
14th century witnessed number of secular compositions but
considered inferior to religious prose: Chaucer’s Tale of Melibeus
15th century continued to produce literary expressions- the language
came close to everyday speech.
Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, the tales of legendary King
Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table- based on the Arthurian
stories that existed in French prose and Middle English.
Helen Cooper opines that the book covers major historical events of
the time and can be considered as a book of history than a fiction.

37. Introduction to Prose: Elizabethan Prose
Prose was the mediations of the experienced, learned and trained minds
in the form of essays, pamphlets, translations, travel narratives and
sermons.
Francis Bacon is the most influential who wrote in Latin and English.
John Lily’s The Anatomy of Wit
Philip Sidney’s Arcadia, Defence of Poesie (reply to Stephen Gosson's
The School of Abuse.)
Robert Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy.
John Donne- pamphlets for religious propaganda.
Thomas Nashe, Robert Greene, Thomas Lodge.

38. Introduction to Prose: Eighteenth Century Prose
Augustan/Neo-classical Age: “age of prose and reason”
Didactic literature- elevated language, heroic couplets, Poetic Diction
for poetry and simple and easily comprehensible language for prose.
Pope, Addison, Steele, Swift, Daniel Defoe, Samuel Johnson
Gulliver’s Travels, The Tale of a Tub.
Tatler, The Spectator (Sir Roger de Coverley), The Gentleman’s
Magazine, The Rambler.
Lives of Poets (1777-81)

39. Introduction to Prose: Eighteenth Century Prose
Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe.(1719)
Oliver Goldsmith: The History of England
Edward Gibbon: The Decline and Fall of Roman Empire
Edmund Burke: A Philosophical Enquiry into Origin….
A Vindication of Natural Society.

40. Introduction to Prose: Victorian Prose
Essays of social criticism:
Thomas Carlyle:: The Life of Schiller, French revolution
John Ruskin: Advocated socialism- Modern Painters in defense of
the works of Turner. Unto This Last.
Thomas Macauley: Believer of happy materialism- practical and
positive in temper, advocate common sense. Wrote essays for The
Edinburgh Review. The History of England from the Accession of
James the Second.

41. Introduction to Prose: Victorian Prose
Walter Pater: Stylist and literary critic- aesthetic criticism- Art for
Art’s Sake- Studies in the History of the Renaissance, Imaginary
Portraits, Appreciations.
R L Stevenson: Scottish essayist, poet, and author of fiction and
travel books, best known for his novels Treasure Island, Kidnapped.
Matthew Arnold: Essays in Criticism: the first essay “Study of
poetry” advocates the Touchstone method. Culture and Anarchy

42. Introduction to Prose: Essay
Formal Essay
Periodical Essay
Critical Essay
Personal Essay
Life writing
Memoir
Diary

43. Dr Prasanth V G