In the context of the passage, what does 'literary canon' imply?
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Correct answer: C. A selection of literary texts established as part of a great tradition
Explanation
The canon is the body of the most revered texts, held to have universal significance.
Note: Passage II, a modern prose passage on practical criticism, is copyrighted and not reproduced. It explains that close reading, still common in schools, comes from I. A. Richards's 1920s experiments. His method judged a poem by its words and technique, apart from author and context, and looked for coherence of image, theme and language, aiming to be objective and 'scientific'. It shaped the American New Critics (Ransom, Brooks) and implied a hierarchy of texts of 'universal' value, the canon.
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