What's the diffrence between poetry and delineated prose?

[dukealien]

Looking into word derivations can help.  "Prose" apprently began as Latin "provorsus," moving straight ahead (without ornaments) while  "poetry" began with Greek "poiesis," making.  Prose, then, simply occurs as a consequence of verbal communication while poetry is made (using the same basic building blocks) with some additional purpose.  Self-consciousness may be the distinction, or we could say poetry is meant to be pretty while prose isn't.  Lincoln's Gettysburg Address is prose, but prettier than a good bit of poetry - leading to the suspicion that its beauty was meant; some modern poetry is quite ugly, but still meant to be admired by people about whose opinions the poet cares.  For example, Emma Lazarus' "The New Colossus" is poetry, but distinctly ugly - and thought admirable by the bien pensant.

Yes, self-consciousness, I think.