PrepTest 134, Section 2, Question 21
The Iliad and the Odyssey were both attributed(37 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- ASeveral hymns that(22 more words not shown)
- BBoth the Iliad(21 more words not shown)
- CWorks known to(26 more words not shown)
- DNeither the Iliad(15 more words not shown)
- EBoth the Iliad(19 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
One writer can write two very different works.
Think of George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984. One tells its story through farm animals; the other presents a very different fictional world. Differences in the setting, vocabulary, and tone don't automatically mean different authors. A writer isn't required to repeat the same kind of work every time.
What we’re looking for
The argument treats the differences between the Iliad and the Odyssey as strong evidence that they came from different poets. Those differences might raise a question, but the author hasn't established how much one poet's work can vary. For a weakener, I'd look for a known example of the same writer producing works with differences like these. That would directly challenge the move from different styles to different authors. We don't have to prove that Homer wrote both poems to undermine this reason for saying he almost certainly didn't.
Working the answers
- A
These hymns were attributed to Homer; we aren't told the attribution is correct. The author could respond that the hymns were misattributed too. Adding more disputed works doesn't provide the known single-author example we need to test how much one writer's work can vary.
- B
Copying errors could make us question whether some differences reflect the original writing. That's a possible concern, but B calls the copying errors minor, while the argument describes great differences in tone, vocabulary, and the fictional world. We aren't told that the errors or other corruptions produced differences on that scale. C gives much more direct evidence against using such variation to infer different authors.
- CCorrect
We know these modern works came from the same writer, and they differ in the very respects at issue as much as the two poems do. So differences this large are compatible with a single author. The example doesn't settle Homer's authorship, but it makes the argument's almost-certain conclusion much harder to draw from these differences alone.
- D
Some inconsistency within each poem doesn't establish that one author wrote all of either poem, much less both poems. Nor does a lack of complete internal consistency tell us that one writer can produce the great differences between the two works. We still need the link that C supplies: known common authorship despite comparable variation.
- E
Many poets participating in each poem's composition would fit the idea that the poems aren't simply the work of one poet. It doesn't show that a single writer can account for the stylistic differences. Rather than weakening the doubt about sole authorship, E gives us another reason for it.
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