I plump for large, equal percentages of prose and
poetry questions and a smaller percentage of drama
questions. Maybe 40-40-20 or 45-45-10.
Anticipating
protests from the Prosers: Though prose is currently by
far the dominant art form for writers (maybe I should
say for readers), and though this century has borne
witness to poetry's retreat into the universities, I
think poetry has enough historical clout to draw
questions. After all, great poems like Paradise Lost or The
Song of Hiawatha or The Iliad, Odyssey, or Aneid,
which would undoubtedly today be novels, ARE poems and
influential as such. But the prevalence of writers like
Bellow, Morrison, etc. in the "serious" literature market
is undeniable. It seems between poetry's past and
prose's present one can find a nearly equal balance of
question-worthiness.
Drama is an awkward creature, poised somewhere
between literature and performance art (especially
CURRENT drama). For example, does one ask about literary
content or performance? Critical impact or audience
impact? Are plays more like books or movies? While drama
merits questions, it seems to be borderland literature,
not as purely "literary."
Erik