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Question 1
C
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
35%
(medium)
Question Stats:
73% (02:52) correct
27%
(02:49) wrong
based on 144
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Question 2
E
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
95%
(hard)
Question Stats:
32% (02:00) correct 68%
(01:41) wrong
based on 136
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Question 3
A
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
35%
(medium)
Question Stats:
70% (01:28) correct 30%
(01:23) wrong
based on 128
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
Question 4
D
Be sure to select an answer first to save it in the Error Log before revealing the correct answer (OA)!
Difficulty:
45%
(medium)
Question Stats:
63% (01:14) correct 37%
(01:15) wrong
based on 123
sessions
History
Date
Time
Result
Not Attempted Yet
As the Moorish states in all parts of Spain fell into progressive political, military, and literary decadence, the atmosphere of the established Christian centers became increasingly more favorable to an intensive and varied literary development. The growth of cities had produced a comparatively urban and cultured population with sufficient leisure and security to find time for literary entertainment. The growth of commerce had brought Spaniards into contact with other societies that had developed original and stimulating literary traditions. The growth of a recognized and responsible central government, following the definitive unification of Castile and León under Ferdinand III early in the thirteenth century, had provided a court or central cultural focus toward which men of literary ability could gravitate. The growing self-awareness of the writer as a uniquely creative personality, from the anonymity of the cantares de gesta to the tentative identification we see in the poetry of Berceo, to the intense and affirmative individualism of the later mester de clerecía in Juan Ruiz and López de Ayala, demands an ever broader field in which to realize and fulfill itself. In obedience to this sort of aesthetic need and nurtured on the expanding possibilities of settled and prospering society, the fifteenth century represents a period of great fecundity in the development and widening of literary genres.
The medieval cantar de gesta, which had so magnificently served the needs of a society of embattled warriors, undergoes a major change, possibly through the influence of the mester de clerecía. In the new society there was neither time, place, nor public for the recitation of the long and usually complex epic poems, but the great deeds, and the great heroes still held their magic for the general public. These survive in a new poetic form, the romances. The anonymous romances are short poems of regular meter and assonance which capture an intense and dramatic moment—of sorrow, of defeat, of parting, of return—in simple and direct language. They are generally fragmentary, combining lyricism and narration taken from the dramatic high points of the epics. Some critics have thought that the oldest romances represent a survival of the raw material from which the long cantares grew, but the more generally accepted opinion is that they represent the opposite process; as the old cantares fell into oblivion, the best moments and the most stirring passages were conserved and polished and given new life.
Supporting this view is the fact that the earliest romances go back only to the middle of the fourteenth century, a time in which the cantares were in a period of final decadence and the oldest epic poems already forgotten. They share the realism and directness of the cantares, and also the greater polish and lyricism of the mester de clerecía. Some thousands of them have been collected and not all relate to the material of the Spanish epics.
The medieval cantar de gesta, which had so magnificently served the needs of a society of embattled warriors, undergoes a major change, possibly through the influence of the mester de clerecía. In the new society there was neither time, place, nor public for the recitation of the long and usually complex epic poems, but the great deeds, and the great heroes still held their magic for the general public. These survive in a new poetic form, the romances. The anonymous romances are short poems of regular meter and assonance which capture an intense and dramatic moment—of sorrow, of defeat, of parting, of return—in simple and direct language. They are generally fragmentary, combining lyricism and narration taken from the dramatic high points of the epics. Some critics have thought that the oldest romances represent a survival of the raw material from which the long cantares grew, but the more generally accepted opinion is that they represent the opposite process; as the old cantares fell into oblivion, the best moments and the most stirring passages were conserved and polished and given new life.
Supporting this view is the fact that the earliest romances go back only to the middle of the fourteenth century, a time in which the cantares were in a period of final decadence and the oldest epic poems already forgotten. They share the realism and directness of the cantares, and also the greater polish and lyricism of the mester de clerecía. Some thousands of them have been collected and not all relate to the material of the Spanish epics.
1. According to the passage, all of the following probably contributed to increasing the number of literary genres in fifteenth-century Spain EXCEPT
A. growth of Spanish cities.
B. Spaniards’ increased contact with other societies.
C. conflicts between the Moorish and Christian states.
D. unification of Castile and León.
E. a change in the writer’s view of himself.
A. growth of Spanish cities.
B. Spaniards’ increased contact with other societies.
C. conflicts between the Moorish and Christian states.
D. unification of Castile and León.
E. a change in the writer’s view of himself.
2. The passage implies that
A. the cantares focus on heroic deeds associated with war, whereas the romances are concerned with peace.
B. the authors of romances were well-educated, recognized writers.
C. the influence of Moorish culture on the romance was less strong than it was on the cantares.
D. the romances probably influenced the mester de clerecía.
E. the cantares were often recited to audiences.
A. the cantares focus on heroic deeds associated with war, whereas the romances are concerned with peace.
B. the authors of romances were well-educated, recognized writers.
C. the influence of Moorish culture on the romance was less strong than it was on the cantares.
D. the romances probably influenced the mester de clerecía.
E. the cantares were often recited to audiences.
3. According to the passage, the theory that the romances come from the same raw material as the cantares is questionable because
A. romances came into being only after the decline of the cantares.
B. the subject matter of romances is the lives of everyday people rather than the lives of heroes.
C. romances are more lyrical and complex than cantares.
D. the cantares were unavailable to the writers of the romances.
E. foreign influences are prevalent in the romances but not in the cantares.
A. romances came into being only after the decline of the cantares.
B. the subject matter of romances is the lives of everyday people rather than the lives of heroes.
C. romances are more lyrical and complex than cantares.
D. the cantares were unavailable to the writers of the romances.
E. foreign influences are prevalent in the romances but not in the cantares.
4. From the passage the reader can infer that
A. before the fifteenth century most Spaniards were illiterate.
B. the cantar was the only literary genre in Spain before 1600.
C. the decline of the Moorish states in Spain resulted in the destruction of much early Spanish literature.
D. fifteenth-century Spanish culture benefited from outside influences.
E. the mester de clerecía were more popular than the cantares.
A. before the fifteenth century most Spaniards were illiterate.
B. the cantar was the only literary genre in Spain before 1600.
C. the decline of the Moorish states in Spain resulted in the destruction of much early Spanish literature.
D. fifteenth-century Spanish culture benefited from outside influences.
E. the mester de clerecía were more popular than the cantares.
Source: Cliffs Test Prep.
04 Oct 2023, 00:29
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Official Explanation
4. From the passage the reader can infer that
Explanation
The author cites Spaniards’ contact with other societies as a positive influence on Spain’s literary development (lines 6–8). The statements in both choices A and B are far too sweeping, based on information in the passage. Choice C is not mentioned or implied, and nothing suggests that the mester de clerecía were more popular than the epics, choice E.
The best choice is D.
Explanation
The author cites Spaniards’ contact with other societies as a positive influence on Spain’s literary development (lines 6–8). The statements in both choices A and B are far too sweeping, based on information in the passage. Choice C is not mentioned or implied, and nothing suggests that the mester de clerecía were more popular than the epics, choice E.
The best choice is D.
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