Cold Mountain Prose Poetry Cold Mountain is prose poetry, and the examples are endless. Each character encountered is described down to the last hair of their head; the war-torn countryside still endures, to be relived by Inman and discovered by Ada. The burning fields, the sunrises and sunsets, the flowing rivers and the everlasting rocks and trees that make up the landscape are all characters in themselves. The definition of the word “poetry” is, to say the least, allusive. Those in dictionaries go around in circles, from defining a poet as “one who writes poetry” to defining poetry as “the work of a poet.” It is therefore more conclusive to describe what poets themselves aspire to create: Coleridge distinguishes between prose – “the best words” – and poetry – “the best words in the best order” – while Worthworth said that poetry is “the breath and the most beautiful spirit of all knowledge. It is therefore difficult to differentiate exactly between prose and poetry. In some cases, such as translating foreign poetry, it has proven more satisfactory to convert the poetry into prose to convey meaning without worrying about meter, which is often lost in translation anyway. However, “Cold Mountain” is clearly one of the few select novels written in prose with a poetic style. By describing scenes, whether uplifting or disturbing, in an innovative, different and detailed style, Frazier manages to surpass other novels in terms of genius and ingenuity. From the first words of the first chapter, the reader is captivated. Different or unusual words are used to describe what they don't usually do – morning 'gestures', for example, morning is not normally considered a gesture, b...... au middle of paper......head; the war-torn countryside still endures, to be relived by Inman and discovered by Ada. The burning field, the sunrises and sunsets, the flowing rivers and the everlasting rocks and trees that make up the landscape are all characters in themselves. Frazier expresses his love of the land through every word of “Cold Mountain” and uses unusual adjectives or verbs to explain his vision from a different perspective. (This is illustrated on page 215 while Inman is married to Lila; she "described little delighted circles in the earth.") Matthew Arnold states that "true poetry is conceived and composed in the soul", and Frazier simply shared this true classic. to give a haunting and truthful insight into the search for the American dream, based on his own Appalachian experience. Works Cited: Frazier, Charles. Cold mountain. New York: vintage books, 1998.