#7 - Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[KelseyWoods]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (A).

This is a Global Reference, Author's Perspective question. We are being asked what the author would be most likely to agree with. In a question like this, the correct answer needs to be supported by the passage but could come from anywhere in the passage. It helps to remember that the author's general viewpoint is that poetry and fiction do not need to be rigidly separated. But often the correct answer in an Author's Perspective question ends up being something less obvious.

Answer choice (A): This is the correct answer choice. Though the author discusses how Dove blends the poetry and fiction genres, the author would still agree that each of Dove's works can be classified as primarily poetry or primarily fiction. In the last paragraph, the author discusses how Dove's poetry can be "regarded as lyric narrative" (lines 41-42) and "her fiction, though undeniably prose" uses "poetic rhythms and elliptical expression" (lines 52-54). The author still clearly delineates between Dove's poetry and fiction, even as he describes the ways in which she blends the two.

Answer choice (B): The author never states that the value of lyric narrative lies only in its representation of a sequence of events and not its ability to evoke inner states.

Answer choice (C): In paragraph 2, the author presents Dove as one example of a recent trend toward writers blending fiction and poetry. The author does not describe her as being without precedent.

Answer choice (D): The author never states that narrative using lyrical language is superior to pure lyric poetry. The author does not think that fiction and poetry need to be rigidly separated, but does not state that blended genre forms are superior to the pure genre forms.

Answer choice (E): The author does not discuss whether or not writers who are able to work within both poetry and fiction also crossover to other dramas.

[saranash1]

Passage 1:
it says Dove "bridges the gap between poetry and fiction not only by writing in both genres, but also fusing the two genres within individual works.
The correct answer is A:
Each of dove's works can be classified as either primarliy poetry or primarily fiction, even hough it ay contain elements of both.

that doesn't seem to support the above sentence?

[Ron Gore]

Thank you for your question, Saranash1.

Your question confuses me a bit because of the ambiguous antecedents for "that" and "the above sentence."

If you are thinking that the answer choice should support what is written in the passage, please understand that this is a Prove Family question, in which we are tasked with finding an answer choice that can be inferred from the passage. The answer choice is not designed to support or strengthen the passage.

Now, assuming that we are both on the same page regarding the task given by the question stem and the role of the answer choice, answer (A) is correct because it tracks the convention of categorization used by the author throughout the passage. For example, Rita Dove is introduced in line 25-6 as a person acclaimed for "both" poetry and fiction. This reflects that the author perceives her to write in each genre.

While the author refers to Dove "not only writing in both genres, but also by fusing genres within individual works," (line 55), this is a reference to "elements of plot" and "clusters of narrative details" in poetry, (lines 45-49), and to "poetic rhythms and elliptical expression" in her fiction, which is "undeniably prose." (lines 51-54).

Hope this helps.

Ron

[saranash1]

ok thanks