The approach to poetry taken by a modern–day Italian immigrant in America would be most analogous to Phillis Wheatley...

Jonathan on March 9, 2021

any update on these questions please?

aaronjin3297 on March 17, 2021

Here is what I conclude: In the passage, it does not tell us the African American poet's approach. It only talked about how she couldn't include her African heritage in her approach. So I picked the answer that closely mirror this logical thought process.

Naryan-Shukle on January 12, 2022

Hey @Andrew, @Jonathan, @aaronjin3297,

Questions like these always stem from a solid understanding of the passage. Wheatley was an African learning English super fast. She started writing her own poetry, but basically old time England was uber pretentious so you had to write poetry with very strict language. Wheatley COULD have used this as an opportunity to create African English poetry, bridge some gaps, start a new thing. But, she didn't. She never used any African oral traditions in her writing. She was super by the book, keeping it safe. The author is kinda disappointed by this, and that's the whole point of the passage.

Now, what's a parallel example of an Italian writing poetry in America? Well, that would be an Italian moving to America (The Godfather is playing in my mind now), and this Italian wants to write poetry, but instead of incorporating tradition italian stuff into their work, they throw away all of that and just write like every other American poet. What a shame.

This is exactly what E is describing. B, on the other hand, is exactly opposite to what Wheatley did. She never incorporated African traditions into her writing, that's the whole point. That's why the author is so disappointed, and feels like Wheatley's poetry could have been so much more.

DevinFuller on September 26, 2023

Would you say "translated" in answer A rules out A?

Emil-Kunkin on September 27, 2023

The passage very much tells us her approach: she fully adopted the conventions and style of mainstream poetry. She was not able to incorporate African literary conventions in her poetry, nor was she able to translate those forms into an American context. This eliminates both a and b.