In
literary criticism
A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...
, purple prose is overly ornate
prose
Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...
text that may disrupt a
narrative
A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller ...
flow by drawing undesirable attention to its own extravagant style of writing, thereby diminishing the appreciation of the prose overall. Purple prose is characterized by the excessive use of adjectives, adverbs, and
metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...
s. When it is limited to certain passages, they may be termed purple patches or purple passages, standing out from the rest of the work.
Purple prose is criticized for desaturating the meaning in an author's text by overusing melodramatic and fanciful descriptions. As there is no precise rule or absolute definition of what constitutes purple prose, deciding if a text, passage, or complete work has fallen victim is subjective. According to
Paul West, "It takes a certain amount of sass to speak up for prose that's rich, succulent and full of novelty. Purple is immoral, undemocratic and insincere; at best artsy, at worst the exterminating angel of depravity."
Origins
The term ''purple prose'' is derived from a reference by the Roman poet
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC), Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). Th ...
(Quintus Horatius Flaccus, 65–8 BC) who wrote in his ''
Ars Poetica'' (lines 14–21):
[Horace (18 BC). Ars Poetica. Lines 14–21.]
See also
*
Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest
__NOTOC__
The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (BLFC) was a tongue-in-cheek contest, held annually and sponsored by the English Department of San José State University in San Jose, California until 2025. Entrants were invited "to compose the opening ...
, to find "the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels"
*
Concision
In common usage and linguistics, concision (also called conciseness, succinctness, terseness, brevity, or laconicism) is a communication principle of eliminating redundancy (linguistics), redundancy,UNT Writing Lab. "Concision, Clarity, and Cohes ...
, a communication principle of eliminating redundancy
*
Description
Description is any type of communication that aims to make vivid a place, object, person, group, or other physical entity. It is one of four rhetorical modes (also known as ''modes of discourse''), along with exposition, argumentation, and narr ...
, one of four rhetorical modes, along with exposition, argumentation, and narration
*
Elegant variation
Elegant variation is the use of synonyms to avoid repetition or add variety. The term was introduced in 1906 by H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler in ''The King's English''. In their meaning of the term, they focus particularly on instances when the ...
, unnecessary use of synonyms
*
Euphuism
Euphuism is an elegant literary style that was briefly in fashion during the Elizabethan era. The euphuism style employed the frequent use of alliteration, antithesis, balance, and simile, with references to nature and mythological tales. Euph ...
, deliberate excess of literary devices fashionable in 1580s English prose
*
Order of the Occult Hand
The Order of the Occult Hand is a secret society of American journalists who slip the meaningless and telltale phrase "It was as if some occult hand had…" in print as an inside joke.
History
The phrase was introduced by Joseph Flanders, then a ...
, a group of journalists who sneak the phrase "It was as if an occult hand had…" into published copy
*
Verbosity
Verbosity, or verboseness, is speech or writing that uses more words than necessary. The opposite of verbosity is succinctness.
Some teachers, including the author of ''The Elements of Style'', warn against verbosity. Similarly Mark Twain and ...
, in which a speech or writing uses more words than is necessary
Notes
{{Reflist
References
* Coles Editorial Board, ''Dictionary of Literary Terms'', Rama Brothers, 2001.
Style (fiction)
Fiction-writing mode
Descriptive technique
Horace
prose
Prose is language that follows the natural flow or rhythm of speech, ordinary grammatical structures, or, in writing, typical conventions and formatting. Thus, prose ranges from informal speaking to formal academic writing. Prose differs most n ...