Critic: Emily Dickinson's poetry demonstrates that meaning cannot reside entirely within a poem itself, but is alwa...
stormbeelerSeptember 8, 2015
Clarification
Going through the answer choices my thoughts were as such. I ruled out E because it says nothing about enjoyment. I then ruled out D because it says that different eras result in different beliefs I.E different meaning in the poem. So far was this correct evaluation?
As for A is this a could be true because it mentions nothing about another persons view influencing?
And C is this a could be true or must be true because of it mentioning different systems of belief among different eras?
Thank you so much
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Same with your reasoning for (D). We know nothing about people from the same era, so it could be true.
Regarding your reasoning for (A), yes, again we know nothing about what another's influence will do to someone's interpretation of a poem by Dickinson.
(C) is a could be true because we know nothing of how an INDIVIDUAL'S interpretation evolves throughout time. We only know that any TWO readers from DIFFERENT CULTURES or ERAS have radically different systems of beliefs. So, again, since we know nothing about this, it could be true, as well.
Answer choice (B), however cannot be true because we have two readers from very different eras. Inevitably, due to the information in the passage, these two people will place different meanings on the sonnets. Thus, answer choice (B) is the correct answer.
Great work analyzing the incorrect answers!
Hope that clears things up! Please let us know if you have any other questions.
jacaroeJune 26, 2017
Are a and c the same in that they state that the reader's interpretation is influenced by someone else? Specifically the author in c and a random person in a?
ddennehy7April 16, 2018
I wanted to pick B at first but then I eliminated it because I figured, "We do not know anything about Shakespeare, we only know about Dickenson's poetry. This is a perfect instance where I get a question wrong for using such tactics that I have learned. I cannot figure out when not to use them....
