The Iliad and the Odyssey were both attributed to Homer in ancient times. But these two poems differ greatly in tone ...

Skylar on April 26, 2020

@dannyod, happy to help!

We are asked to weaken the passage's reasoning. The passage finds that two works attributed to Homer differ greatly and therefore cannot both be his work. To weaken this logic, we should try to show that seemingly different works can be written by the same person.

(E) suggests that both works were "the result of an extended process of oral composition in which many poets were involved." This means that more than Homer should be attributed, thereby strengthening the author's claim that the works are not of the "same poet." Although Homer was involved to some extent, this is much different than having the work attributed entirely to him or denoting him as the poet. So, (E) is incorrect.

(C) states that some modern works that differ greatly are known to be the work of the same author. This provides an comparable example that goes directly against the logic in the passage, thereby weakening it and making (C) correct.

Does that make sense? Please let us know if you have any additional questions!

Anthony-Wurst on July 22, 2021

Thank you for this. This was extremely helpful to me and exactly what I needed to help understand this question.