PrepTest 112, Section 4, Question 7
Critic: Emily Dickinson's poetry demonstrates that meaning cannot(41 more words not shown)
If the critic's statements are(9 more words not shown)
- AA reader's interpretation(13 more words not shown)
- BA modern reader(13 more words not shown)
- CA reader's interpretation(6 more words not shown)
- DTwo readers from(11 more words not shown)
- EA reader's enjoyment(12 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The words on the page aren't the whole experience of reading a poem. Two readers can bring different beliefs to the same words and understand them differently. That's the critic's idea: meaning comes from the interaction between the poem and the reader.
The critic makes that view particularly strong by calling the result unique and saying readers from different cultures or eras have radically different systems of beliefs. We should keep those claims in view rather than import our own theory of how poetry works.
What we’re looking for
This is a could-be-true EXCEPT question. Four statements can fit with the critic's account; one clashes with it. We aren't looking for something the critic has failed to prove. A statement could be unproven and still be perfectly compatible with the account. Let's test whether the described situation can fit, not whether the critic explicitly mentioned it.
Working the answers
- A
Someone else's interpretation could influence a reader's beliefs or draw attention to something in the poem. The reader would still bring that resulting perspective to the work. The critic doesn't say readers develop their beliefs in isolation, so outside influence can fit the account.
- BCorrect
These readers come from different eras, so the critic says they bring radically different systems of beliefs. Their interpretation is supposed to be the unique result of their beliefs interacting with the poem. B instead gives them the same interpretation. That is the situation at odds with the critic's stated view.
The reference to Shakespeare doesn't exempt B from the claim. Dickinson's poetry is the critic's evidence for a general account of poetic meaning; the claim isn't restricted to interpretations of Dickinson alone.
- C
One reader's beliefs might change over time, changing how that reader understands the poem. Nothing in the critic's account requires a person's perspective to remain fixed. We don't need to prove that every reader changes. C only has to describe something that could happen.
- D
Readers from the same era could come from different cultures. They could therefore have radically different beliefs and interpret the poem differently while fitting the account. Being alive at the same time doesn't, on this view, guarantee the same interpretation.
- E
Enjoying a poem and interpreting it are different matters. Learning what the poet thought might make the experience more enjoyable while the reader still interprets the words through personal beliefs. The critic doesn't rule out that benefit, so E can fit.
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