Alvin Pang’s prose poem “Other Things” challenges the notion that prose poetry—a hybrid form that blends prose formatting with figures of speech and other traditional poetic devices—ought to be contained within a single page. Jane Monson is among the many poets and scholars who claim that prose poems shouldn’t exceed one page, while others argue for greater expansiveness, embracing multipage works. This divide is reflected in anthologies: a large majority of prose poems in such collections are under half a page, though The Penguin Book of the Prose Poem (2018) includes a high proportion of longer works.
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mediumWhich choice best states the main idea of the text?
A
Some scholars and poets have criticized Pang’s poem “Other Things” for exceeding the generally accepted length for prose poems.
B
The editorial choices of a 2018 anthology are a reflection of the widening acceptance of longer prose poetry.
C
As seen in a work by Pang and in the greatly differing approaches taken in anthologies, prose poems vary widely in length.
D
The ideal length for prose poems remains a contested subject among scholars and practitioners of the form.