Good question. Let’s unpack exactly the lines you cited to see exactly what they are saying.
“Byron’s poems record the emotional pressure of certain moments in his life. I believe we cannot often read a poem of Byron’s, as we often can one of Shakespeare’s, without wondering what events or circumstances in his life prompted him to write it.â€
The first sentence is pretty clear: Byron’s poems record emotional moments of his life.
The second sentence is a bit more tricky. Skip the shakespeare insert for now: without it, the author is saying we can’t read a poem of Byron’s without wondering what events or circumstances prompted him to write it.
Ok. Now let’s home in on the Shakespeare insert. What is it modifying? It says that while we can’t read a poem of Byron’s without wondering what events or circumstances prompt it, we CAN do that for Shakespeare’s poems!
And that is exactly what answer E says. Shakespeare’s poems can often be read without being curious about the biographical moments that motivated them.
So why is answer C wrong? It states that Shakespeare’s poems do not grow out of, or are not motivated by, actual events in Shakespeare’s life. But the passage we dissected above didn’t say that! It simply said that Shakespeare’s poems can be read without wondering what events or circumstances prompted them. But it still may be true that the poems grew out of actual events in Shakespeare’s life; we just don’t know! All we know is about how readers can or can’t read them.
I hope that helps! Please let us know if you have further questions.
