PrepTest 121

[lcid:3582] Prep Test 121 LSAT — Reading Comp — S3 Reading comp

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

Which one of the Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

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

Question Type

Humanities

Strategy Overview

Remind ourselves of the main point of the passage, then head to the answers, focusing on those that line up with the main point and then using our notes/the passage to find the correct answer

Answer Anticipation

This question stem gives us a topic for the correct answer, but it deals with the central topic - Louise Gluck. Even Paragraph 3 could support the correct answer, as the critics discuss Gluck and her approach to poetry - an answer could say something such as, “Her critics argue that…”As such, we’ll need to rely on our big-picture understanding of the passage to answer this question. We should start by reminding ourselves of the main point (either by reviewing what we said after reading the passage or by rereading our answer to the main point question). From there, we can head to the answers, deferring on those that don’t line up with the main point. For those that do, we’ll use our notes and the passage to see if it’s correct.

Answer choices

  1. A
    She objects to the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) (Lines 9-11) Gluck views herself as working within the English poetic tradition, so this answer doesn’t line up with our overall view of her. (If anyone would agree with this answer, it’s her critics - Lines 38-41.)

  2. B
    She recognizes that the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Lines 20-22; Lines 53-55) Gluck, in multiple locations, discusses universal themes in poetry, so this answer runs counter to her overall viewpoint.

  3. C
    She claims to accept Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Lines 3-6) Gluck doesn’t focus on gender as her critics do, and so this answer doesn’t line up with her overall viewpoint. The LSAT seems to be trying to get you to select this answer based on her list of influences in Paragraph 1, but that list was made up exclusively of male poets because it was showing how Gluck didn’t view her gender as preventing her from appreciating the works of male poets.

  4. D
    She claims to write Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) (Lines 48-53) This can be a tempting answer since Gluck argues against creating a “uniquely female poetry by using new forms to develop a new voice,” as her critics favor. However, she does believe that gender differences will emerge naturally in writing, and do so more authoritatively when not done intentionally. As such, while she may argue that she doesn’t intentionally write from a non-gender-neutral perspective, she would agree that her poems could reflect her gender, so this answer is incorrect.

  5. E
    She claims to have Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem

    (E) (Lines 17-20) This answer lines up with Gluck’s overall viewpoint that focused on poems dealing with great and universal themes. Looking to Paragraph 2 where that concept is introduced, we can find this answer being stated more or less directly in Lines 17-20, so it’s correct.

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