Phillis Wheatley

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Reading Comprehension question.

TopicsMeaning in ContextHumanities

Keep going in LSAT Lab

Save & drill this skill — build targeted practice sets from questions like this one
Video walkthroughs — watch every question solved step by step
81 official LSATs — as questions, timed sections & full-length tests

Free to start

Full official LSAT questions are available through LawHub. This page provides LSAT Lab's explanation, strategy, and review tools without republishing the full official question.

Passage

For the poet Phillis Wheatley, who was brought to colonial New England as a slave in 1761, the formal literary code of eighteenth-century English was thrice removed: by the initial barrier of the unfamiliar English language, by the discrepancy between spoken and literary forms of English, and by the African tradition of good poetry in English within a few years of her arrival in New England.

Wheatley’s experience exemplifies the meeting of oral and written literary cultures. The aesthetic principles of the African oral tradition were preserved in America by folk artists in work songs, dancing, field hollers, religious music, the use of the drum, and, after the drum was forbidden, in the perpetuation of drum effects in written literature to an oral literary tradition in the creation of an African American literary language.

But this was a potential that her poetry unfortunately did not exploit. The standards of eighteenth-century English poetry, which itself reflected little of the American language, led Wheatley to develop a notion of poetry as a closed system, derived from imitation of earlier written works. No place existed for the rough-and-ready Americanized language and a foreign literary tradition; they were not extensions of her past experience, but replacements.

Thus limited by the eighteenth-century English literary code, Wheatley’s poetry contributed little to the development of a distinctive African American literary language. Yet by the standards of the literary conventions in which she chose to work, Wheatley’s poetry celebrated as the first Black American poet.

What this question is testing

Meaning in Context

Your task

Pin down exactly what the question asks about the passage — a detail, the author's view, the structure, or the main point — before looking at the choices.

Common trap

Answers that restate a true detail from the passage but don't answer the specific question being asked.

Winning move

Anticipate the answer in your own words from the passage, then find the choice that matches that prediction.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question

By a “closed system” of poetry (third paragraph), the author most probably

Answer choices

Too Strong: must be raised7% picked this
cannot be written by those who are not raised knowing
The passage is suggesting that in order to write poetry that would be accepted, you had to know the conventions of poetry and play by those rules. But the passage isn't saying you had to be raised knowing its rules. It's fine to learn them later in life. As Wheatley herself demonstrates, you can come to this poetry later in life, assimilate its rules and conventions, and still be an "undeniably accomplished poet".
7%
Out of Scope4% picked this
has little influence on the way language is
Out of Scope: influencing language Reversed Causality The passage never discusses poetry influencing casual spoken language. Rather, it says that the conventions of poetry at that time did not allow casual spoken language to influence poetry.
4%
Out of Scope: new vs. old16% picked this
substitutes its own conventions for the aesthetic principles of
"Closed System" had nothing to do with rejecting aesthetic principles of the past and substituting its own conventions. It just meant "poetry that adhered to the conventions / rules of 18th century poetry".
16%
Correct68% picked this
does not admit the use of street language and
Why this is right
Here, the needed context for the word / phrase we're being asked about comes in the following sentence. After saying that Wheatley developed a notion of poetry as a closed system, the passage elaborates by saying, "No place existed for (it was closed off from) the rough-and-ready Americanized English she heard in the streets ... The conventions of (this closed system) of 18th century neoclassical poetry ruled out casual talk".
Skill tested: Meaning in Context · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
68%
Too Strong: ultimately rejected5% picked this
is ultimately rejected because its conventions leave little room for
We don't have any context to support that "closed system" referred to poetry that is ultimately rejected. After all, we're told that Wheatley's career as a poet took place within this closed system. She doesn't seem to have rejected it at all.
5%

Continue the review in LSAT Lab

Save this question, watch the video walkthrough, and drill similar questions in your LSAT Lab account.

Save and practice this skill

LSAT Lab

Turn this review into a targeted study plan.

Save this question, drill more like it, watch the video walkthrough, and track your progress in your LSAT Lab account.

Start practicing free