which was the movement of African American writers, musicians, and artists centered in the

Harlem section of New York City during the 1920s. So it looks like we're getting introduced to an

artist here, one of the most important poets of this time. Beginning with his university years,

Cullen strove to establish himself as an author of romantic poetry on abstract, universal topics

such as love and death. Believing poetry should consist of lofty thoughts beautifully expressed,

Cullen preferred controlled poetic forms. So we were learning about the form that he preferred,

as well as some of the subject matter that he wanted to write about. He used European forms

such as sonnets and devices such as quatrains, couplets, and conventional rhyme. And he frequently

employed classical allusions and Christian religious imagery, which were most likely the

product both of his university education and of his upbringing as the adopted son of a Methodist

Episcopal reverend. So we get a little bit more about the structure of his poetry, stuff that he

included in it. Now for my low-res summary, for this first paragraph, I'm just going to think of this as

Cullen and his style. This appears to be the topic of the passage. Seems like it's potentially a

spotlight kind of passage. We might get into a little bit more about his style and the things

he wrote about. Let's see what we get in the next paragraph. The second paragraph begins,

example, in a particular poem here, an artful use of diction and a rhythm of sonority that allow him

to capture the atmosphere typical of the English ballad form of the past centuries. So some people

think he really captured the European ballad style. But other critics have found Cullen's

use of European verse forms and techniques unsuited to treating political or racial themes,

such as the themes in Uncle Jim, which is one of his other poems, in which a young man is told by

his uncle of the different experiences of African Americans and whites in the United States society.

Or here's another poem, Incident, which relates to the experience of an eight-year-old child who

hears a racial slur. So there are some critics who don't think the European form is appropriate for

this kind of subject matter. Now one of these haters has complained that Cullen's persona,

as expressed in his work, sometimes seems to vacillate, or in other words, go in between,

aesthete and spokesperson for racial issues. So basically, his persona is like going between

being an artist and caring about beauty and focusing on race stuff. But Cullen himself

rejected this dichotomy, maintaining that his interest in romantic poetry was

quite compatible with his concern over racial issues. So he's basically saying,

no, I can be into the art stuff as well as race stuff. He drew a distinction between poetry of

solely political intent and his own work, which he believed reflected his identity as an African

American. So he's basically saying, look, my poetry is not like stuff that's only political.

I combine political and art. As a heartfelt expression of his personality, accomplished

by means of careful attention to his chosen craft, his work could not help but do so.

That's a reference to reflecting his identity as an African American. So the way he wrote reflected

who he was as an African American. It showed his personality. What I'm getting from this paragraph

is we start with the viewpoint of some critics. Some critics praise Cullen and the way that he

captured the European form, but others are hating on him and think, look, the European form doesn't

really fit this kind of subject matter. But then Cullen comes in and then we get basically Cullen's

view about his own work. He's saying, I can do both the beautiful poetry and address political

stuff. Now, I don't quite detect author opinion yet. I'm assuming the author's probably going to

support Cullen, but let's see if that's what happens in the last paragraph or if the passage

goes in a different direction. The final paragraph says explicit references to racial matters do in

matters. So race stuff in his work does become less common, but it's because he increasingly

focused on the religious dimension of his poetry. So it's not because he cared less, he's just

focused more on religion. In The Black Christ, in which the poet imagines the death and resurrection

of a rural African American, and another poem called Heritage, where he expresses tension between

identification with Christian traditions and desire to stay close to African heritage. So these

are examples of some of his religious poems. In those poems, Cullen's thoughts on race were subsumed,

so they were basically secondary, within what he conceived of as broader and more urgent questions

about the suffering and redemption of the soul. So he's like interested in these more abstract,

bigger questions. Race is coming secondary here, but nonetheless Cullen never abandoned his

commitment to the importance of racial issues, reflecting on one occasion that he felt actuated

by a strong sense of racial consciousness that grows upon me I find as I grow older. So that's

a quote that's supposed to show how he still cares about race. Now in this last paragraph,

we get a description of Cullen's later work. I don't know how else to summarize this besides just

saying later work. And I don't mean latex work. That would be, um, that'd be something different,

I think. So I'll rewrite that. Later work, but also race still important. Now before we go to

and content, but within it, there's also this debate that's going on. There are some critics

who like what he's doing, some haters who think what he's doing is not appropriate for racial

issues. So either critique or debate, spotlight seems to be appropriate here. But in any case,

I think when we, when we think about the main point of the passage, it should be anchored to

Cullen's view because Cullen is the subject of the passage and we learn his view. We know what

he's saying about his own work. I think you could also say that in this last paragraph,

we're getting a little bit of the author of the passage. The author is coming in and explaining

why Cullen is doing what he does in the later work. So I'm not sure if I can capture the main

point in a very precise manner right now, but when I think what's the overall point of the passage,

I'm thinking it's, it's something that's based off of the last paragraph, as well as the last

part of the second paragraph. So maybe something like Cullen was able to address race in his poems,

but also religion and, and kept the beauty of the art form. Something about being able to combine

art and racial issues and religious issues. That's what I have in mind as the potential main point.

Now for our quick recap of the, the low res summaries, the first paragraph is just telling

us who he is, what he was interested in, what he liked to write about, what his forms were.

We get the critic's opinion in the beginning of the second paragraph, followed by Cullen's view.

And then we get a description of his later work and why it changed a little bit, but the author

is emphasizing, look, he still cared about race. And with that, we are ready for the questions.

Number 7 is a main point question, and this is something we already thought about.

Remember, the main point of this passage should be anchored to the end of this passage.

That's because this is where we get Cullen's view.

We also get a little bit of the author explaining Cullen's later work and what he cared about.

So that's where my thinking of the main point comes from.

Cullen was able to combine concern with the European art form or European poetry forms,

as well as racial issues and religious issues.

Something like that is what I have in mind.

While much of Cullen's poetry deals with racial issues,

in his later work he became less concerned with racial matters

and increasingly interested in writing poetry with a religious dimension.

Now this seems pretty good.

This captures the overall point of the last paragraph here,

which is trying to explain Cullen's later work.

I'm not jumping at Answer Choice A

because I'm not sure whether we need something that captures the rest of the passage too.

So it's definitely not striking me as an immediately obvious perfect answer.

But at least it's accurate and coming from where I thought the main point would come from.

So let's keep this alive.

While Cullen used European verse forms in his later poems to increasingly address religious issues,

his poetry never abandoned a concern for racial issues.

Ah, you know what?

This one seems better than Answer Choice A to me.

Because in Answer Choice A, the focus is on how he became more interested in religion,

but it's not really addressing how race is still important.

And I'm reminded when I think about Answer Choice B versus A,

that race is still important was a big part of the last paragraph.

The author over here is acknowledging that race is addressed less often,

but is telling us that actually race is still there.

People might think it's not there, but it is still there.

And Answer Choice B is capturing that.

So I'm going to get rid of Answer Choice A right now because I think B is better.

Let's take a look at the other ones.

This is the opposite of what Cullen would say.

So C is not supported here.

This is what some critics would say, but not Cullen.

Despite the success of Cullen's poetry at dealing with racial issues,

Cullen's primary goal was to recreate the atmosphere that characterizes a ballad?

I don't think we were told this was his primary or main goal.

Sure, maybe he wanted to do this,

but that doesn't mean that this is like the most important goal above other goals.

I have no reason to think race wasn't just as important.

So that's why D is wrong.

I can't support primary here.

by providing the context within which these issues could be understood.

Now this sounds like something that might match up to some line in the last paragraph,

but my problem with Answer Choice E right now is that it just seems too narrow.

It is true that religion is the broader topic in some of his later work,

and race is subsumed within that.

But the overall point isn't about the religious dimension in Cullen's poetry.

The overall point should include the idea of both the religion,

but also caring about race and caring about European art forms or poetry forms.

So that's why I think Answer Choice E is just too narrow right now.

that he did address religious issues,

but it's also capturing the idea that race is still important.

And that's not something any other answer is doing.

So that's why B is the best answer.