Studies of Homer

Answer choices

1. A

   Too Strong: most Wrong Emphasis1% picked this

   The Homeric poems are most fruitfully studied as records of the time and place in

   This is a very loaded claim that sounds more like the opposite of what our author seems to think. She thinks that specialists should be studying the poetry itself. Instead, they were wrapped up in tangential topics, such as "the time and place in which the Homeric poems were written". This answer makes it seem like the author is a big fan of studying Homer's poems as records of the time and place in which they were written, but our author would say, "No, just study them as fantastic works of art!" This answer also captures none of the Old (nonpoetic emphasis ) / New (poetic emphasis) part of the big picture.

   1%
2. B

   Wrong Emphasis7% picked this

   The Homeric poems are the products of a highly developed and complicated tradition

   This answer doesn't capture any of the Old / New story about the curious period where specialists were only attending to nonpoetic aspects of Homer's works, followed by the recent return to focusing on the poetry itself.

   7%
3. C

   Correct80% picked this

   The Homeric poems are currently enjoying a resurgence of critical interest after an age of scholarship largely devoted

   Why this is right

   This answer addresses the Old / New story of the passage: for a few decades specialists were bizarrely focused on nonpoetic aspects of Homer's poems (led by Millman Parry), but now specialists have a renewed interest in the poems themselves (thanks to Adam Parry).

   Skill tested: Main Point · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

   80%
4. D

   Trap13% picked this

   The Homeric poems are currently enjoying a resurgence of scholarly interest after an age during which most studies

   Wrong Characterization of Old Too Strong: most This answer is very close to being fine. It has the same Old / New rhythm as (C), but according to this answer, during the 1935 to 1970 period, most studies were authored by nonacademic writers. We're never told who authored most studies. We are told that during 1935 to 1970 most of the people studying the poetic aspects were nonacademics. But academics were still authoring studies relating to Homeric poems, just with a focus on nonpoetic emphasis. The studies on Homer during that period may have been been 70% by academics (with a nonpoetic emphasis) and 30% by nonacademics (with an emphasis on the poetry itself). We have no idea what proportion of studies were academic vs. nonacademic.

   13%
5. E

   Wrong Emphasis: assign a date0% picked this

   Before Milman Parry published his pioneering work in the early twentieth century, it was difficult to assign a date or an

   This passage is all about a phase where specialists (influenced by Milman Parry) were bizarrely not studying the poetic aspects of Homer's poems. The author finds this kind of dumb and is telling us about how it came to pass and how we've recently turned the page and returned to academic focus on Homer's poetry itself. This answer choice is making it sound like the whole passage was saying, "Milman Parry was an important person, for he made it possible to assign a date to Homer's poems".

   0%