English Literature / Unit 19 ENL 1814 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Agreeing and Disagreeing With a Critic
The idea
Some questions ask which statement a critic would most likely accept or reject. First, restate the critic's principle: for Wordsworth, poetry comes from feeling recollected; for Eliot, poetry is impersonal; for Arnold, culture is the best that has been thought; for Pater, art serves beauty, not lessons. Second, test each option against the principle: Eliot would reject a claim that a poem is the poet's personal confession; Sidney would reject a claim that poetry has no moral use. Third, watch for options that sound reasonable but belong to another critic. Then choose the statement that follows from the principle, or contradicts it if the question asks for rejection.
In practice
Principle, test, the other critic's trap.
Where people slip
Two critics can sound alike. Wordsworth and Eliot both write about feeling but take opposite positions.
Your place on the trail
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Unlocks
- Nothing yet depends on this.
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