Critic: Emily Dickinson's poetry demonstrates that meaning cannot reside entirely within a poem itself, but is alwa...

juaninmiami69 January 10, 2021

Struggling to find the answer that contradicts.

Hi, I had a very hard time finding the right answer that contradicts the stimulus. Of the 28 question, I only got six right. I could not seem to find the word(s) that would go against the stimulus information. Is there any strategy that can help me find the correct answers for these?

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shunhe January 13, 2021

Hi @juaninmiami69,

Thanks for the question! So remember, we want something that cannot be true based on the stimulus. So something that contradicts something told to us in the stimulus. (B) says that it’s impossible that, based on what we’re told in the stimulus, a modern reader and a 19th century reader interpret the sonnets in the same way.

Remember, the stimulus tells us that any two readers have radically different systems of beliefs. And the meaning of a poem depends on the “unique” interaction of your beliefs and the poem. So different systems of beliefs means different meanings. So (B) can’t be true! In general, that’s the kind of thought process you have to have with each answer choice with these kinds of questions. I also recommend you review our videos and other materials on “Cannot Be True” questions.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.