CR

This topic has expert replies
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 195
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 4:33 am
Thanked: 10 times

CR

by sankruth » Mon Dec 03, 2007 1:13 pm
Can somebody help with this?

Johnson is on firm ground when he asserts that the early editors of Dickinson’s poetry often distorted her intentions. Yet Johnson’s own, more faithful, text is still guilty of its own forms of distortion. To standardize Dickinson’s often indecipherable handwritten punctuation by the use of the dash is to render permanent a casual mode of poetic phrasing that Dickinson surely never expected to see in print. It implies that Dickinson chose the dash as her typical mark of punctuation when, in fact, she apparently never made any definitive choice at all.

Which of the following best summarizes the author’s main point?
(A) Although Johnson is right in criticizing Dickinson’s early editors for their distortion of her work, his own text is guilty of equally serious distortions.

(B) Johnson’s use of the dash in his text of Dickinson’s poetry misleads readers about the poet’s intentions.

(C) Because Dickinson never expected her poetry to be published, virtually any attempt at editing it must run counter to her intentions.

(D) Although Johnson’s attempt to produce a more faithful text of Dickinson’s poetry is well-meaning, his study of the material lacks sufficient thoroughness.

(E) Dickinson’s editors, including Johnson, have failed to deal adequately with the problem of deciphering Dickinson’s handwritten manuscripts.

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 64
Joined: Mon Nov 19, 2007 9:53 am
Thanked: 2 times

by jan08 » Mon Dec 03, 2007 7:14 pm
I have read this question somewhere else as well...I think the answer is B..

thanks

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 195
Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 4:33 am
Thanked: 10 times

by sankruth » Mon Dec 03, 2007 10:14 pm
Yes B is correct. Can you please explain your rationale for B.

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 214
Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2007 6:30 am
Thanked: 15 times

by sujaysolanki » Mon Dec 03, 2007 11:45 pm
Stimulus isn't saying that Johnson is distorting Dickinson's poetry.

It is implying that his form of distortion, unlike others, is retaining or using the dashes, which were never intended to enter mainstream by Dickinson. They were just used by her for convenience and not as a form of punctuation. When Johnson is regularizing them, he is potentially misleading the readers.

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 300
Joined: Fri Aug 09, 2013 2:26 am

by khanshainur » Tue May 10, 2016 3:31 am
i would pick option B