A
prosimetrum (plural
prosimetra) is a poetic composition which exploits a combination of
prose (
prosa) and
verse (
metrum); in particular, it is a text composed in alternating segments of prose and verse. It is widely found in Western and Eastern literature. While narrative
prosimetrum may encompass at one extreme a prose story with occasional verse interspersed, and at the other, verse with occasional prose explanations, in true
prosimetrum the two forms are represented in more equal measure. A distinction is sometimes drawn between texts in which verse is the dominant form and those in which prose dominates; there the terms
prosimetrum and
versiprose are applied respectively.
