The word poem comes from the Middle French poème, the Latin poēma, and the Ancient Greek ποίημα (poíēma). It is usually defined as a literary piece written in verses or a piece of poetic writing, that is with an intensity or depth of expression or inspiration greater than usual.

As such, the word prose comes from the identical Middle French word prose, which served as shorthand for the Latin phrase prosa oratio, meaning "direct speech." It first appeared in the English language during the fourteenth century, recorded in the first edition of the Wycliff Bible, a popular translation of a Latin text into Middle English, and in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Tale of Melibee." In each case, "prose" and its predecessors draw a distinction between rule-bound, artistic verse and the plain-spoken, conversational patterns of normal speech (Wilson, 2021).