Reading comp PrepTest 121 · Section 3 · Question 10

Passage

Questions 6-12  .        The poet Louise Glück has said that she feels  . comfortable writing within a tradition often Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Humanities


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • Background; 2 approaches
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Background - English tradition, only male poets
    • Contemporary women poets - Rejected tradition as inadequate for women
    • Bluck - Embraces it (“tradition of her language”)

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Gluck’s embrace of tradition
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Read poems with great themes - loss, time, desire
    • Themes are universal, poems/tradition explore them

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Gluck’s critics
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Working in male-dominated tradition will lead to accepting assumptions
    • Forms/tools can’t confront history
    • Need to create uniquely female poetry - new forms/voice

Paragraph 4

  • Paragraph note
    • Gluck’s response to Critics
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Female perspective as limiting as critics view tradition
    • Differences between genders emerge more naturally without conscious intent
    • Themes are timeless; literature isn’t and reflects social/historical context

Main Point: While some critics maintain that the English poetic tradition’s domination by male voices requires women to develop their own forms and voice, Gluck focuses on writing about universal themes, believing that any differences between genders will come out naturally rather than consciously.

Key Lines?

Lines 7-9 - Gluck’s influences

Lines 9-11 - Gluck’s view of herself

Lines 11-13 - View of critics

Line 14 - Gluck’s view

Lines 25-28 - Gluck’s views on universal themes

Lines 33-36 - Critics’ counterpoint

Lines 41-44 - Critics direction for poetry

Lines 45-48 - Gluck responds

Lines 48-51 - Gluck argues goal will be reached without conscious approach

Meta-Structure?

Exploring a Debate - While passages that present two opposed viewpoints usually see the Author resolve it, either by taking sides or bringing the two viewpoints together, in this case, he doesn’t have any moments where he clearly sides with one viewpoint over the other! This is previewed in Lines 11-14, where the two sides of the debate are highlighted without editorializing, and then it’s explored in the back-and-forth nature of the passage, with Gluck presenting her viewpoint in Paragraph 2, the Critics responding in Paragraph 3, and Gluck responding to the Critics in Paragraph 4. While the Author doesn’t overtly take sides, the focus is clearly on Gluck here, with more space and the last word/rebuttal being given to her. When in an Exploring a Debate passage, the two sides make up the main point, with a focus on whichever viewpoint the Author focuses on (if there is a focus). Here, that means the main point reflects both the view of the Critics and Gluck, with a focus on Gluck, as we summarized above.

Last Thoughts?

This passage is interesting in how the viewpoints all interact with one another. The Author is largely passive, presenting the “debate” between Gluck and her critics. Gluck shows up presenting her own view in Paragraph 1, and the Author mentions the view of the critics. Paragraphs 2 and 4 are both on Gluck’s views, which, combined with her viewpoint in Paragraph 1, will make it hard to find information about what she believes without more specific notes covering content (e.g., Theme for Paragraph 2). Paragraph 3 interjects between the Gluck paragraphs with the view of the Critics. Let’s try to keep the viewpoints and, for Gluck, content of each section clear in our head and in our notes!

Question prompt

According to the passage, Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: C

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Review Gluck’s feelings on art that reveals gender differences, then find an answer reflecting it

Answer Anticipation

First, we should note that this question is referring directly to the section of the passage that Question #9 relied on, so if we did our job for that question, then we should already have reviewed this section and know that it’s dealing with Lines 48-53. If we didn’t fully do our job for that question and need to find this information, we should be able to identify it from our notes. Paragraph 1 was background, and Paragraph 2 talked about Gluck’s views on universal themes. It was Paragraph 3 where the view of Gluck’s critics is introduced, so that’s where we’d expect such gender differences to first show up, and Gluck’s response is in Paragraph 4, so we should look there for this answer.In doing so, we can see that the Author says Gluck believes such gender differences will be “revealed with more authority in the absence of conscious intent” (Lines 52-53). Let’s find an answer stating as much.

Answer choices

  1. A
    The artist refuses to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) (Lines 48-50) Gluck does accept at least the possibility that there are some gender differences shaped by history, so she doesn’t refer to artists who “refuse[] to accept” certain presuppositions about gender - she just doesn’t believe that such presuppositions pervade the English tradition to the point where a woman can’t write effective poetry within it, as her critics argue.

  2. B
    The artist uses the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Lines 48-53) While Gluck does believe in using the tools of the English poetic tradition, she doesn’t tie these tools to revealing gender differences, so this answer draws a connection that’s absent from the passage.

  3. C
    The artist does not Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

    (C) (Lines 52-53) In Gluck’s view, the gender differences will emerge in the “differing ways that women and men” write poems, with them being “revealed with more authority” when such differences aren’t intentionally done. This answer reflects the exact language from the passage, so it’s correct.

  4. D
    The artist comments on Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) Gluck seems less interested in exploring gender issues than her critics, so this answer doesn’t line up with her overall viewpoint. The phrase “to the extent that there are some gender differences” when describing her view suggests that she views them as incidental and ancillary (to the universal themes she promotes).

  5. E
    The artist embraces that Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) Similar to (B), this answer reflects Gluck’s viewpoint, but the passage never connects this part of her view to the revelation of gender differences, so it’s also incorrect.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 5%
  2. B 3%
  3. C Credited 87%
  4. D 4%
  5. E 2%

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