I write only prose narrative (as my occasional attempts at poems loudly announce), but that prose is indebted to poetry on every level. Poetry teaches not only meaning and music through image, it teaches meaning as the music in an image. And that has made all the difference in how I choose words.
When I learned Norwegian, I became much more aware of the natural iambic patterns in the vernacular of both languages. (Think of The Muppet's Swedish Chef). I think it might be rare that language isn't metered when it's spoken. There are several dialects here that add extra-meaningless-syllables to fill out the metric feet. Statements usually end on a rising note - a trochee. It's a kind of grammar, really. English only does that with questions. So I have come to believe, like you point out, that the genre has more to do with the focus of the "story" being told than form.
I write only prose narrative (as my occasional attempts at poems loudly announce), but that prose is indebted to poetry on every level. Poetry teaches not only meaning and music through image, it teaches meaning as the music in an image. And that has made all the difference in how I choose words.
When I learned Norwegian, I became much more aware of the natural iambic patterns in the vernacular of both languages. (Think of The Muppet's Swedish Chef). I think it might be rare that language isn't metered when it's spoken. There are several dialects here that add extra-meaningless-syllables to fill out the metric feet. Statements usually end on a rising note - a trochee. It's a kind of grammar, really. English only does that with questions. So I have come to believe, like you point out, that the genre has more to do with the focus of the "story" being told than form.