Purple Prose
Overly ornate, flowery writing that draws attention to itself at the expense of clarity and story.
Last updatedPurple prose is writing so extravagant, ornate, or melodramatic that it distracts from the narrative. It typically features excessive adjectives, overwrought metaphors, and sentences that prioritize sounding impressive over communicating clearly. The term comes from the Roman poet Horace, who criticized writers for stitching "purple patches" of showy prose onto otherwise plain work.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton's infamous opening line, "It was a dark and stormy night," spawned an annual bad-writing contest because it continues for sixty more words of increasingly ornate meteorological description. Certain passages in early Anne Rice novels, while beloved by fans, are frequently cited as purple prose for their lush, sometimes overwrought descriptions.
The line between rich, evocative prose and purple prose is subjective, but a useful test is whether the language serves the story or merely showcases the writer's vocabulary. Cormac McCarthy writes dense, lyrical prose that is vivid rather than purple because every word earns its place. When in doubt, ask: does this sentence make the reader feel something, or does it just make the writer sound clever?