Self-paced
Critic: Emily Dickinson's poetry demonstrates that meaning cannot reside entirely within a poem itself, but is always the unique result of an interaction between a reader's system of beliefs and the poem; and, of course, any two readers from different cultures or eras have radically different systems of beliefs.
Summary
Emily Dickinson’s poetry demonstrates that meaning is not derived entirely from a poem itself, but that meaning is the unique result of the interaction between a poem and a reader’s beliefs. Any two readers from different cultures or time periods have radically different beliefs.
Notable Valid Inferences
For a Must Be False question, the four wrong answers will be things that could be true based on the stimulus. The correct answer will be something that contradicts what must be true.
7.
If the critic's statements are █████ ████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ ██ ████ ███████
a
A reader's interpretation ██ █ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██████████████ ██ ███
Could be true. We know that any two readers have different beliefs, but it is possible that some readers’ interpretations could affect the interpretations of other readers.
b
A modern reader ███ █ ██████████████████ ██████ █████████ ███ ██ █████████████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ████
Must be false. We know that any two readers from different time periods have different beliefs. And, we know that meaning is the unique result of interaction between beliefs and the poem. Therefore, it is impossible for a modern reader and a nineteenth-century reader to interpret a poem in exactly the same way.
c
A reader's interpretation ██ █ ████ ███████ ████ █████
Could be true. We know that every reader of a poem has a different interpretation, but this fact does not preclude the possibility of a reader’s interpretation changing over time. Interpretations could change over time and still be unique.
d
Two readers from ███ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █████████ ███████████████ ██ ███ ████ █████
Could be true. We know that any two readers from different cultures have different beliefs. These different beliefs cause these readers to interpret a poem differently.
e
A reader's enjoyment ██ █ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ██████████████ ██ ███
Could be true. We know that each reader has a unique interpretation based on each reader’s belief system. It is possible that a reader’s enjoyment is enhanced while maintaining a unique interpretation.