While Atwood's compelling themes are often the focus of much critical attention, it is important to note that one cannot fully understand them if they are placed outside the genres and techniques frequently identified with postmodern writing. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that many of the techniques found in Murder in the Dark are also abundantly available in other examples of prose poetry.

Almost exclusively French in its origin, the prose poem is characterized by a strict use of allusion and metaphor in ordinary prose writing. In addition, the prose poem illustrates a self-conscious composition and an intense use of verse techniques in an altered form. Most critics would agree that the tradition began with the French poet Charles Baudelaire who asked "Which of us, in his ambitious moments, has not dreamed of the miracle of a poetic prose, musical, without rhyme and without rhythm, supple...