'Poetry in its use of language continually distorts and denies the structure of reality to exalt the structure of the self' implies:
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Correct answer: B. the capacity of poetry to draw attention to itself as an aesthetic object
Explanation
Poetic devices make the language itself the object of attention, so the poem becomes an artefact rather than a window.
Note: Passage II is from Christopher Caudwell, Illusion and Reality (1937), which is copyrighted and not reproduced. Caudwell argues that poetry, through rhyme, metre and inversion, distorts the structure of external reality to exalt 'the structure of the self', drawing attention to its own language. The novel instead 'blots out external reality by substituting a more or less consistent mock reality' of people and scenes; its emotions attach to that world, so rhythm, 'preciousness' and style are alien to it, and novels translate well.
More Reading Comprehension questions
- What does the word 'assonance' mean?
- What does Caudwell imply by 'The novel blots out external reality by substituting a more or less consistent mock reality'?
- What is meant by 'mock reality' in the passage?
- If rhythm, 'preciousness' and style are alien to the novel, in which genre are they distinctive features?
- Pater's claim that imaginative prose should be the special art of the modern world implies:
- Which expression is closest to the meaning of 'fervid'?