Q13

[jennifer]

What makes the first paragraph of the passage more about Cullen approach to poetry then biographical info? What is th tipping point? Thank you

[ohthatpatrick]

I don't know that there is a tipping point, per se, between describing the 1st paragraph in terms of biographical background vs. poetical background. There's definitely more weight given to approach to poetry than there is to biographical facts. Every sentence in the first paragraph relates to Cullen's poetic background/approach. I don't think we'd say that every sentence in the first paragraph is biographically relevant. Another reason you might prefer describing the intro paragraph in terms of its information about his approach to poetry is that ultimately this part is more relevant to where the passage goes in subsequent paragraphs.

But I would actually say that I eliminated the other answers for reasons other than their 1st ingredient.

(A) is wrong because the mentions of Cullen's poems are in the context of critical evaluations, not artistic development. And the critical evaluations did not deal with his later work (the discussion of his later work in the 3rd paragraph dealt more with his artistic development).

(B) is wrong because it omits any reference to the 3rd paragraph. This answer only takes us as far as the 2nd paragraph.

(C) omits any mention of the 2nd paragraph: critics for/against as well as Cullen and the author's responses to that criticism

(D) is wrong because the poems mentioned are never defined as being "his most notable", and like (C) this would not be any fitting way to describe what happened in the 2nd paragraph.

(E) lists 3 ingredients, each of which could be applied to one of the three paragraphs in the passage.

Let me know if you have lingering qualms about this one.

[Nina]

Thanks for detailed explanation. i just have a quick question regarding to answer B. since you mentioned that it only dealt until paragraph 2, i'm wondering that is the sentence "the success of this use is evaluated" refers to "some literary critics which praised Cullen's skill"?

Many thanks!