Critic: Emily Dickinson's poetry demonstrates that meaning cannot resi

I'm confused between Option (A) and (B). Both are an exception to what said by Critic.
Can someone illustrate?

Cheers,
Aj.

Critic: Emily Dickinson's poetry demonstrates that meaning cannot reside entirely within a poem itself, but is
always the unique result of an interaction between a reader's system of beliefs and the poem; and, of course,
any two readers from different cultures or eras have radically different systems of beliefs. If the critic's
statements are true, each of the following could be true EXCEPT:
A. A reader's interpretation of a poem by Dickinson is affected by someone else's interpretation of it.
it may or may not be possible because we do not know weather the someone's else was from the same era or culture since,difference of interaction comes only when the reader has a radically different systems of belief ( i.e. from a different era or culture)[/color]
B. A modern reader and a nineteenth-century reader interpret one of Shakespeare's sonnets in the same way.
The modern reader and the 19th century reader are from different eras, so (B) is the right choice

Hope this works !

Hi,
We have no information about Shakespeare's work given in the passage.

The passage is about Emiliy's poetry. So how can we say that B Cant be true at all?

Regards,
Sach

Hi Sach
Emily Dickinson's poetry demonstrates that meaning cannot reside entirely within a poem itself. Critic has generalized his/her theory. Thus, even Shakespeare's work can be applied in this theory.

but in inference Qs, info about correct answer must be present in the passage. This is what CR strategy books say..

Hi Sach, you have got a point here, but think of it the other way. Lets read the question again

Critic: Emily Dickinson's poetry demonstrates that meaning cannot reside entirely within a poem itself, but is always the unique result of an interaction between a reader's system of beliefs and the poem; and, of course, any two readers from different cultures or eras have radically different systems of beliefs. If the critic's statements are true, each of the following could be true EXCEPT:
A. A reader's interpretation of a poem by Dickinson is affected by someone else's interpretation of it.
B. A modern reader and a nineteenth-century reader interpret one of Shakespeare's sonnets in the same way.
C. A reader's interpretation of a poem evolves over time.
D. Two readers from the same era arrive at different interpretations of the same poem.
E. A reader's enjoyment of a poem is enhanced by knowing the poet's interpretation of it.

The critic believed in a theory that meaning cannot reside entirely within a poem itself which, he found, has been demonstrated by Dickinson's poetry.
I would also like to post an extract on Magoosh by Mike(I am not able to post the link!!)

"Think Broadly
When identifying assumptions, one crucial point to remember: assumptions are most often general statements, not specific statements. If my premise is “Fred has quality A,” and my conclusion is “Therefore, Fred has quality B,” then the assumption is not going to involve Fred at all. The assumption would be something like “most/all folks who have quality A also have quality B.” In trying to identify the assumption, it can helpful to remember that you can omit any specific people/places/items mentioned."

If you think in this way then you will find B as the most suitable answer.

Critic: Emily Dickinson's poetry demonstrates that meaning cannot reside entirely within a poem itself, but is
always the unique result of an interaction between a reader's system of beliefs and the poem; and, of course,
any two readers from different cultures or eras have radically different systems of beliefs. If the critic's
statements are true, each of the following could be true EXCEPT:

A. A reader's interpretation of a poem by Dickinson is affected by someone else's interpretation of it. Could be true. As passage states: unique result of an interaction between a reader's system of beliefs . Interaction can be with Someone who affects reader's interpretation
B. A modern reader and a nineteenth-century reader interpret one of Shakespeare's sonnets in the same way. Could be true. As passage states: unique result of an interaction between a reader's system of beliefs and the poem . Although, passage do not mention anything about Shakespeare's sonnets
C. A reader's interpretation of a poem evolves over time. Could be true. As passage states: unique result of an interaction between a reader's system of beliefs .
D. Two readers from the same era arrive at different interpretations of the same poem. Note: Passage states : "meaning is always the unique result . Thus, this can't be true
E. A reader's enjoyment of a poem is enhanced by knowing the poet's interpretation of it. Could be true.

IMPORTANT: Q asks following [color=#00a651]could be true EXCEPT: [/color]
Not "MUST BE TRUE"

Most are confused between B and E
Argument says that two people with different beliefs will interpret a same poem differently. Argument also says that two people from two different cultures or eras will have different beliefs.
B says that two people from two different era's will have same interpretation of Shakespeare's sonnet and thus this statement isnt true. As per argument two people from two different era's will have different beliefs and each one will interpret the poem differently.
E says that reader will enjoy the poem if its understanding of poem is enhanced through knowing the interpretation of the writer who wrote the poem...suppose, if we come to know what is the belief of Mr. Dickinson in his peom we will better understand his poem and will enjoy more. So E could be true.

Critic: Emily Dickinson's poetry demonstrates that meaning cannot reside entirely within a poem itself, but is always the unique result of an interaction between a reader's system of beliefs and the poem; and, of course, any two readers from different cultures or eras have radically different systems of beliefs.

If the critic's statements are true, each of the following could be true EXCEPT:

Type - Could be True EXCEPT

A. A reader's interpretation of a poem by Dickinson is affected by someone else's interpretation of it. - might be true -
B. A modern reader and a nineteenth-century reader interpret one of Shakespeare's sonnets in the same way. - Correct - any two readers from different cultures or eras have radically different systems of beliefs.
C. A reader's interpretation of a poem evolves over time. - might be true - if beliefs change over time, then interpretations might change too
D. Two readers from the same era arrive at different interpretations of the same poem. - Might be true - if they have different culture
E. A reader's enjoyment of a poem is enhanced by knowing the poet's interpretation of it. - This came close - maybe because poet's interpretation will give a different perspective

Answer B

Critic: Emily Dickinson's poetry demonstrates that meaning cannot reside entirely within a poem itself, but is always the unique result of an interaction between a reader's system of beliefs and the poem; and, of course, any two readers from different cultures or eras have radically different systems of beliefs.

If the critic's statements are true, each of the following could be true EXCEPT:

A. A reader's interpretation of a poem by Dickinson is affected by someone else's interpretation of it. -A reader's belief can be impacted by someone else
B. A modern reader and a nineteenth-century reader interpret one of Shakespeare's sonnets in the same way. -CORRECT. This is the total opposite of what is stated in the passage
C. A reader's interpretation of a poem evolves over time. -This is as per the passage
D. Two readers from the same era arrive at different interpretations of the same poem. -This is as per the passage
E. A reader's enjoyment of a poem is enhanced by knowing the poet's interpretation of it. -This is as per the passage

Let’s proceed by reading the stimulus closely.
Critic: Emily Dickinson's poetry demonstrates that meaning cannot reside entirely within a poem itself, but is always the unique result of an interaction between a reader's system of beliefs and the poem; and, of course, any two readers from different cultures or eras have radically different systems of beliefs.

Interpretation(Pre-phrasing): The terms demonstrates and poem indicate how Dickinsons poems facilitates one to look at the unique interaction between a poem(any poem) and reader's system of beliefs. And this interaction is different for any 2 readers from different cultures or eras.

Let’s look at the ans choices.
(A) Concentrate on the term ‘interpretation’ . Is it a synonym for any other term in the stimulus? Yes. It’s synonymous to ‘meaning’. Now, how can one know the meaning of a poem. He could either read the poem by himself or read/listen to the meaning(interpretation) from someone else who read the poem. Note that the meaning that he derives from the 2 ways will be different. Why? Because ‘ unique result [/b]of an interaction between a reader's system of beliefs and the poem’.
So, choice A can be true. Hence we eliminate.

(E) This choice could be true for the same reason as choice A. Hence we eliminate this as well.

(C) It is quite plausible that a readers belief system changes over time, hence it’s possible that the interpretation evolves over time. Choice C can be true as well. Hence we eliminate.

(D) 2readers of same era can be from different cultures so can have different beliefs and their interpretation of a poem can differ. This choice can also be true. Hence we eliminate.

(B) this choice already mentions that the two readers are from different eras. Thus they definitely have different beliefs hence cannot have same interpretation. This choice mentions a sonnet by Shakespeare. Note that we have already pre phrased that the facts mentioned in the stimulus is true for any poem. (A sonnet is a poem).
As choice mentions that the readers will interpret the sonnet in the same way, this choice can never happen. Hence this is the correct answer choice.

We are looking for an option that cannot be true at all.

let us look at each option

option A : Incorrect ; this option could be true-if the other person belongs to the same culture or era as that of the reader, then he/she might affect or influence the reader, possibly changing the reader's interpretation of the poem. So all in all, this option could very well be true as this also is in line with the information present in the stimulus.

option C : Incorrect ; The stimulus says, "the meaning is always the unique result of an interaction between a reader's system of beliefs and the poem". now logically the interaction can be instant or it can kind of evolve or build overtime. Regardless, this option could very well be true as this also is in line with the information present in the stimulus.

option D : Incorrect ; we know about when two people belong to different cultures or eras. So can we really comment about what really is the case when two people belong to the same culture or era? we cannot obviously. Therefore the given option may or may not be true.

option E : Incorrect ; similar to option C. A well established interaction can lead to enhanced enjoyment. This option is again in line with the information present in the stimulus.

Obviously we can settle at the fact that options A, C, D, and E are in line with the information present in the stimulus, which means that B must be the answer. Also, B goes against to what has been mentioned in the stimulus, hence it cannot be true at all as per the info in the stimulus. Hence the answer.

PS : My reasoning may not be perfect like that of an expert, so if any of the experts wants to correct my reasoning or to add to my analysis above, please feel free to do so

GMATNinja
nightblade354

Can you please elaborate on how to eliminate option E in such CR which is not even tangential to the argument Such answers also fall under the exception as it is not where mentioned or highlighted in the argument?

Can you elaborate on your confusion? If you are asking for a full breakdown of the question, there are some good explanations above. If you are looking for strategy, the simple answer is that we have four possible answers and one impossible answer. Our goal is to find the impossible answer choice. This is just the inverse of a standard question; we still need to find one answer, it just happens to be something that isn't true. And the best way to do this is to literally ask yourself “is this possible?”. If your answer is “yes”, move on until you say “no matter what, this cannot work”.

[wrapimg=][/wrapimg]

Hi nightblade354

I have quite the same confusion in the approach to this type of question.
It's clear that B is literally an Impossible option. But I feel that choice E seem irrelevant, it wasn't mentioned anywhere in the argument to say it's possible and impossible. (or maybe it's just because I couldn't link the choice with any given info in the passage )

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but what I understand in the approach is as below:
- For the type "could be true", we need to find 1 POSSIBLE answer. All the options that Impossible or Irrelevant (out of scope) should be eliminated.
- For type "Could be true EXCEPT", the answer will be something Impossible and/or Irrelevant. Or Irrelevant choice shouldn't be the answer?

Please help Thanks a lot!

Hi,

Your interpretation at the end is what is in error. Even if something is irrelevant, is it possible? Sure. When we have an everything except question, you need to find something that is indeed impossible.

Posted from my mobile device