#4 - Specific Reference, Must Be True, Purpose/Function

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (D).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (E):


This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[Tamirra]

Can someone define "closed system" for me? I've read and reread and it's not clicking.

Thanks,
Tamirra

[Claire Horan]

Hi Tamirra,

"Closed system" describes a system without any inputs or outputs. Think of it like when the doors and windows in your home are closed, you are unaffected by the weather outside. In the context of this passage, Ms. Wheatley's concept of English poetry as a closed system means that, according to the author, she did not realize that she could influence the conventions of the poetry by incorporating aspects of African languages and traditions into it.

Good question!

[Tajadas]

Could someone explain why C is incorrect? I had taken "derived from imitation of earlier written works" to be a close rephrasing of C- "substitutes its own conventions for the aesthetic principles of the past", in this case, the earlier written works/principles of the past being the exclusion of Americanized English, English spoken by Black people, and Africanisms.

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Tajadas!

Answer choice (C) states: "substitutes its own conventions for the aesthetic principles of the past." This is somewhat the opposite of what the passage is stating. The passage says that Wheatley relied on the standards of eighteenth-century English poetry. She did not use her own conventions in place of these aesthetic principles of the past. Instead, she used the aesthetic principles of the past (the already established British literary language) in place of creating her own distinct African-American literary language.

The wording of (C) is a little tricky--it's easy to get turned around and confused about what is being substituted for what. Think about it this way: If I said "in this recipe I'm going to substitute splenda for sugar," what would I be replacing and what would I be replacing it with? I'd be replacing sugar with splenda. Same holds true for (C): it is basically saying that closed system poetry replaces the aesthetic principles of the past with its own conventions. That's not what the passage is describing, and so it is incorrect.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey