The poet Louise Glück has said that she feels comfortable writing with

Question

The poet Louise Glück has said that she feels
comfortable writing within a tradition often
characterized as belonging only to male poets. About
her own experience reading poetry, Glück notes that
  (5)   her gender did not keep her from appreciating the
poems of Shakespeare, Blake, Keats, and other male
poets. Rather she believed this was the tradition of
her language and that it was for this reason her poetic
inheritance. She thus views the canon of poets in
  (10)   English as a literary family to which she clearly
belongs. Whereas many contemporary women poets
have rejected this tradition as historically
exclusionary and rhetorically inadequate for women,
Glück embraces it with respect and admiration.

(15)   Glück’s formative encounters with poetry also
provided her with the theoretical underpinnings of her
respect for this tradition; she notes that in her youth
she could sense many of the great themes and
subjects of poetry even before experiencing them in
  (20)   her own life. These subjects—loss, the passage of
time, desire—are timeless, available to readers of any
age, gender, or social background. Glück makes no
distinction between these subjects as belonging to
female or male poets alone, calling them “the great
  (25)   human subjects.” If the aim of a poem is to explore
the issue of human mortality, for example, then issues
of gender distinction fade behind the presence of this
universal reality.

Some of Glück’s critics claim that this idea of the
  (30)   universal is suspect and that the idea that gender
issues are transcended by addressing certain subjects
may attribute to poetry an innocence that it does not
have. They maintain that a female poet writing within
a historically male-dominated tradition will on some
  (35)   level be unable to avoid accepting certain
presuppositions, which, in the critics’ view, are
determined by a long-standing history of denigration
and exclusion of female artists. Furthermore, they feel
that this long-standing history cannot be confronted
  (40)   using tools—in Glück’s case, poetic forms—forged
by the traditions of this history. Instead critics insist
that women poets should strive to create a uniquely
female poetry by using new forms to develop a new
voice.

(45)   Glück, however, observes that this ambition, with
its insistence on an essentially female perspective, is
as limiting as her critics believe the historically male
dominated tradition to be. She holds that to the extent
that there are some gender differences that have been
  (50)   shaped by history, they will emerge in the differing
ways that women and men write about the world—
indeed, these differences will be revealed with more
authority in the absence of conscious intention. She
points out that the universal subjects of literature do
  (55)   not make literature itself timeless and unchanging.
Literature, she maintains, is inescapably historical,
and every work, both in what it includes and in what
it omits, inevitably speaks of its social and historical
context.    1 
 1. Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

(A) In response to her critics, Glück argues that the attempt to develop a uniquely female voice is as restrictive as they believe the male tradition in poetry to be.
(B) Although critics have taken Glück to task for writing poetry that is generic in subject rather than specifically aimed at addressing women’s concerns, she believes that poetry must instead concern itself with certain universal themes.
(C) In spite of critics who attempt to limit art to expressing the unique perspectives of the artist’s gender, Glück believes that art in fact represents a perspective on its subject matter that is equally male and female.
(D) In opposition to some critics, Glück writes on universal themes rather than striving for a uniquely female voice, believing that whatever gender differences are present will emerge unconsciously in any case.
(E) Aside from the power and accomplishment of her writing, Glück has yet to offer a completely satisfying response to the critics’ demand that her work reflect the conflict between male and female perspectives on poetic subject matter.

2 
 2. Based on the passage, with which one of the following statements regarding the poetic tradition in English would Glück be most likely to agree?

(A) This tradition is somewhat diminished for its lack of recognized female poets.
(B) This tradition transcends its social and historical context.
(C) The male-dominated aspect of this tradition can be overcome only by developing a uniquely female voice in poetry.
(D) The view of this tradition as an inheritance is necessary for a poet to be successful.
(E) This tradition, though male dominated, addresses universal subjects.

3 
 3. As it is used in the passage, “inheritance” (line 9) refers most specifically to

(A) the burden that a historically male-dominated poetic canon places on a contemporary woman poet
(B) the set of poetic forms and techniques considered acceptable within a linguistic culture
(C) the poetry written in a particular language, whose achievement serves as a model for other poets writing in that language
(D) the presumption that contemporary poets can write only on subjects already explored by the poets in that language who are considered to be the most celebrated
(E) the imposition on a poet, based on the poetry of preceding generations in that language, of a particular writing style

4 
 4. Based on the description in the passage, a poem that reveals gender differences in the absence of any specific intention by the poet to do so is most like

(A) a bird’s flight that exposes unseen air currents 
(B) a ship’s prow that indicates how strong a wave it is designed to withstand
(C) a building’s facade that superficially embellishes an ordinary structure
(D) a railroad track, without which travel by train is impossible
(E) a novel that deliberately conceals the motives of its main character

5 
 5. According to the passage, Glück believes that art reveals gender differences with more authority when which one of the following is true?

(A) The artist refuses to accept certain presuppositions about gender.
(B) The artist uses the tools of that art’s tradition. 
(C) The artist does not consciously intend to reveal such differences.
(D) The artist comments on gender issues through the use of other subject matter.
(E) The artist embraces that art’s tradition with respect.

6 
 6. Which one of the following statements about Glück is made in the passage?

(A) She objects to the use of traditional poetic forms to confront the history of the poetic tradition.
(B) She recognizes that the idea of the universal in poetry is questionable.
(C) She claims to accept only male poets as her literary family.
(D) She claims to write from a gender-neutral perspective.
(E) She claims to have sensed the great themes and subjects of poetry while in her youth.

7 
 7. Based on the passage, which one of the following most accurately characterizes the author’s attitude toward Glück’s view of poetry?

(A) respectful dismissal
(B) grudging acceptance
(C) detached indifference
(D) tacit endorsement
(E) enthusiastic acclaim

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Passage Summary

The Topic is poet Louise Glück, and the Scope her view of the gender issue in terms of poetry. Before we’re very far along, we see that the author’s Purpose is to compare and contrast, in a more or less objective fashion, Glück’s views and those of her critics. Unlike many women poets, says  paragraph 1 , Glück embraces the classic male canon—Shakespeare et al.—and is moreover drawn to universal themes that transcend the sheer categories of male or female (that’s the  “theoretical underpinnings”  from paragraph 2).

Her critics occupy  paragraph 3 : to them, women poets including Glück need to reject the traditional maledominated poetic forms and forge their own unique voice. And Glück gets her rebuttal in  paragraph 4 : sorry, quoth she, she’ll keep working with universal themes nonetheless, and rely on the gender differences to emerge on their own, as they inevitably will. The passage’s Main Idea would be a distillation of the contrasted points of view (i.e. Glück = universalist; critics = feminist), and a Roadmap to guide us to the right answers to the questions might go like so:

Paragraph 1 —LG embraces the ( ) canon

Paragraph 2 —Theory: timeless, universal themes

Paragraph 3 —Critics: poets should strive for the unique

Paragraph 4 —LG: Gender will come out on its own

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

4. Based on the description in the passage, a poem that reveals gender differences in the absence of any specific intention by the poet to do so is most like

Explanation

Not inappropriately for a poetry passage, this question asks us to locate a poetic metaphor for a particular phenomenon. The Hot Words here,  “gender differences in the absence of any specific intention by the poet,”  are direct from  lines 48–53 . We need a choice in which something profound comes out even though it wasn’t intended, and that has to be  (A) —the bird on the wing cannot have intended to expose unseen air currents, but expose them it does, just as gender differences come out irrespective of whether that was the poet’s intent.

(B)  There seems to be no lack of intentionality in the prow’s identifying the wave intensity it can withstand.

(C)  Whether the embellishment was superficial or profound, it was still crafted with intention.

(D)  The railroad track, clearly, was built with the intention of having a train run on it.

(E)  The main character’s intentions are  “deliberately”  concealed—hence concealed by intention, the opposite of what we’re looking for.

Answer: A

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

1. Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

Explanation

The right answer should encompass the whole of this highly unified passage: Glück’s views on the male-dominated canon and the proper subjects of poetry; her critics’ beef; and her rebuttal.  (D)  does all of that, giving proper emphasis to the Glückian view but acknowledging her critics in passing.

(A)  simply repeats the detail with which  paragraph 4  begins. The passage’s thrust is much broader than this small point.

(B)  distorts the critics’  paragraph 3  by making it seem as if Glück’s critics are mostly concerned with her subject matter; rather,  lines 41–44  emphasize their interest in form, specifically the creation of a new, uniquely female voice.

(C)  Reducing the  paragraph 3  critics’ concern to merely  “limiting art to gender” —and leaving out the entire poetic voice issue—distorts it, and  (C)  also doesn’t do justice to Glück’s beliefs by reducing them to  “equally male and female.”

(E)  makes it sound as if Glück has been somehow confounded or bested by her critics, when in fact the tone of her  paragraph 4  rebuttal is rather triumphant. This one is way off.

Answer: D

7. Based on the passage, which one of the following most accurately characterizes the author’s attitude toward Glück’s view of poetry?

Explanation

If asked—and we are—to sum up the author’s attitude toward Glück’s view of poetry, one might come up with:  “pretty darned respectful.”  He uses precise and even elegant language to articulate her perspective on the traditional canon and the proper subjects of poetry; he reports on her critics without signing on to their position, and he employs strong prose for her  paragraph 4  rebuttal. All of that supports  (D) —and if you think this is just an opportunity for the test maker to test whether you know what  “tacit”  means, perhaps you’re right. The author never explicitly aligns himself with Glück’s view but does so implicitly—tacitly.

(A)  The respect is there, but there’s no  “dismissive”  language whatsoever.

(B) “Grudging” ? Where’s that supported?  “Grudging acceptance”  might be the attitude of one of Glück’s  paragraph 3  critics who nonetheless admires her poetry. But not the author’s.

(C)  The idea that the author couldn’t care less about Glück’s view of poetry is belied by the very existence of the passage itself, let alone its unfailingly admiring language.

(E)  goes too far. Unlike the author of  “Aurignacian Art,”  who midway through a paragraph adopts another’s view as her own, this author reports on the views of others (Glück, and her critics) without ever explicitly adopting those views as his own.

Answer: D

quialias · Answer

Question 5, If the artist consciously does it then C should be the answer, but in the option its given does not consciously do it. So I think Option C is wrong please clarify.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Hello quialias

Read the  lines 48-53  from the passage:

She holds that to the extent 
 that there are some gender differences that have been 
 (50) shaped by history, they will emerge in the differing 
 ways that women and men write about the world— 
 indeed, these differences will be revealed with more 
 authority in the absence of conscious intention.

This clearly means that gender differences are revealed with more authority   in the absence of conscious intention,   i.e., when the artist  does not consciously try to reveal them.

Hence  (C)  is correct.

The poet Louise Glück has said that she feels comfortable writing with

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The poet Louise Glück has said that she feels comfortable writing with

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