Definition

A term of literary criticism, purple prose is used to describe passages, or sometimes entire literary works, written in prose so overly extravagant, ornate or flowery as to break the flow and draw attention to itself. It also refers to writing that employs certain rhetorical effects such as exaggerated sentiment or pathos in an attempt to manipulate a reader's response.

Origins

The term "purple prose" is derived from a reference by the Roman poet Horace (Qunintus Horatius Flaccus, 65-8 BCE) who wrote in his Ars Poetica (lines 14 - 21):

Inceptis grauibus plerumque et magna professis
purpureus, late qui splendeat, unus et alter
adsuitur pannus, cum lucus et ara Dianae
et properantis aquae per amoenos ambitus agros
aut flumen Rhenum aut pluuius describitur arcus;
sed nunc non erat his locus. Et fortasse cupressum
scis simulare; quid hoc, si fractis enatat exspes
nauibus, aere dato qui pingitur?

(Your opening shows great promise, but has flashy purple patches; as when describing a sacred grove, or the altar of Diana, or a stream meandering through fields, or the river Rhine, or a rainbow. But these are out of place; if you can realistically render a cypress tree, would you include one when commissioned to paint a sailor in the midst of a shipwreck?)

Purple dye was rare in the Ancient World, with only the wealthiest able to afford it. That's why purple robes and trim came to be associated with the Emperor and, later, European royalty. During the Roman Republic, social climbers would sew purple cloth on to cheaper clothing to give an appearance of wealth. This was regarded as pretentious and gaudy.

Horace was alluding to this practice, saying that passages marked by ornate rhetoric or elaborate poetic diction were like those "purple patches", ostentatious and inappropriate. Horace's advice was that a work should have a stylistic consistency appropriate to its subject matter.

The Ars Poetica was first translated into English by Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), though her translation remained unfinished at the time of her death. A complete translation by Ben Jonson (1572-1637) was first published in 1640, with another by Wentworth Dillon, 4th earl of Roscommon , (1633-85) following in 1680. These were all highly influential, with Horace regarded as the ultimate authority on good writing. Through them, the terms "purple patches", "purple passages" and "purple prose" became a standard part of the English critical lexicon.

Examples

A frequently cited example of purple prose is the penultimate paragraph of The Garden of Cyrus by Sir Thomas Browne (1605-82), first published in 1658:

But the Quincunx of Heaven runs low, and 'tis time to close the five ports of knowledge. We are unwilling to spin out our awaking thoughts into the phantasms of sleep, which often continueth precogitations; making Cables of Cobwebs and Wildernesses of handsome Groves. Besides Hippocrates hath spoke so little and the Oneirocriticall Masters, have left such frigid Interpretations from plants that there is little encouragement to dream of Paradise it self. Nor will the sweetest delight of Gardens afford much comfort in sleep; wherein the dullness of that sense shakes hands with delectable odours; and though in the Bed of Cleopatra, can hardly with any delight raise up the Ghost of a Rose.

A more recent author used as an example is Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803-73), who begins his novel Paul Clifford (1830) with the sentence:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents -- except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

Often shortened to just "It was a dark and stormy night", this opening has given rise to the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest, in which contestants are asked to supply equally florid opening sentences to their own otherwise imaginary novels.

Other instances of purple prose quoted from the novel include "As soon as the Promethean spark had been fully communicated to the lady's tube" (meaning Once the lady lit her pipe), "a nectarian beverage" (wine), "a somnambular accommodation" (a bedroom), and so on.

Modern instances of purple prose can often be found in romance novels. These started alluding to sex in the 1970s and authors, not wanting to be either pornographic or clinical in their descriptions, developed many euphemisms to describe body parts and sexual activity. Examples include "throbbing manhood", "quivering desire" and (he) "filled her with the hot wet tumult of his love." Body parts are often referred to simply by the term his or her "sex", which allows for such (parody) sentences as "He put his sex in her sex and they had sex."

Romance writers are aware of the problem, with Deb Stover contributing an essay "The Purple Prose Eater" to the book How to Write a Romance For The New Markets (1999).

Modern Usage

The term "purple prose" is also often used as a way of dismissing any writing the speaker does not like. As such, it is little more than an ornate -- or "purple", if you will -- way of saying that the speaker thinks something is "rubbish".

Journalists and newspaper editors often regard writing that possesses any literary qualities -- that is, which does not consist only of short declarative sentences aiming at complete transparency -- as "purple prose".

Similarly, to those that don't care for certain genres, the stylistic features of those genres -- such as the heightened emotionalism of romances; the wise-cracking, first-person narration of hardboiled detective stories; the precise technical vocabulary concerning ships, ranching, aviation, mountaineering and similar used in adventure stories; or the various and varied conventions of science fiction and fantasy -- are referred to as "purple prose".

The fiction that appeared in the pulp magazines is often dismissed as "purple prose" because -- in contrast to the way the term is used by journalists -- it's regarded as having little to no literary qualities.

As often happens with pejoratives, those being condemned have adopted the term as a badge of pride. There is a fanzine, edited by Mike Chomko and devoted to the pulps, called Purple Prose; the Purple Prose Press was a publisher (now defunct) which specialised in re-printing material from the pulps; and there is a currently active on-line magazine (e-zine) called, simply, PurpleProse.

External Links

The Purple Prose Eater by Deb Stover.

The website of the PurpleProse e-zine.

Paul Clifford by Edward Bulwer-Lytton.

Homepage of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest.