What do you get when you come to the intersection of “purple things” and grammar? You get “purple prose,” a style of overly ornate, elaborate language most often reserved for descriptions of intimate ...

Most writers are plodders, not poets. We struggle to put one simple declarative sentence after another, with Hemingway our hero and clarity our goal. Only a few writers are true s ...

Purple prose is a term of literary criticism used to describe writing that is flamboyant and evocative beyond the requirements of its context. It employs certain rhetorical effects like ...

Northwestern magazine is looking for Northwestern alumni who would like to write for Purple Prose, the 800-word personal essay that appears in every issue. The editor welcomes first-person essays on ...

Purple, the prose The term “purple prose” stretches back to circa 18 B.C. and the “Ars Poetica” of Horace, according to Charles Harrington Elster in his 2005 book, “What in the Word?” ...

Literary letter writer amusing, if not persuasive Not since the days of the late great Samuel Bank’s regular letters to the editor have we Sun readers been treated to such a literary display as ...