Dickinson's poetry

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Dickinson's poetry

by Pdgmat2010 » Wed Jun 23, 2010 10:34 pm
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.

I know this question has been posted before ( i did the search) but didnt find any adequate explanation / analysis of the question.
Here is my analysis which does not correspond to the OA. Just want to understand the error in my reasoning more than debating about the OA. pls help me with the same

A. 'equally serious distortions' extreme words not supported by the stimulus . Reject
B. 'misleads the readers about the poet's intentions' . no mention of this in the stimulus. reject
C. not supported by the stimulus. No mention is made of Dickinson's intentions.
D. 'lacks thoroughness' nowhere the stimulus mentions that Johnson is not thorough with the material . Reject
E. i chose this as i felt that the earlier editors and Johnson have not dealt with the problem of properly interpreting Dickinson's handwritten manuscripts
Trap : Nowhere does the stimulus mention that the earlier editors misinterpreted her poetry due to her poor handwriting.

Did i recognize the trap properly?

Also, can some one tell me on what basis did you select B which is the OA
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by this_time_i_will » Wed Jun 23, 2010 10:55 pm
E says that the earlier editors failed to decipher the manuscript. However, stem says that earlier editors distorted Dickinson's intentions. It was Johnson who failed to decipher, to some extent.
So E ruled out.

B is fine. re read the line: .... that Dickinson surely never expected to see in print

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by sumanr84 » Thu Jun 24, 2010 2:08 am
I agree with your explanations for options A,C and D.

E, however, is wrong in that it talks about "Dickinson's editors, including Johnson," means to say, there are some other authors too. Whereas, in the argument author has discussed only about Johnson. I eliminated E as soon as I saw the word "editors"
I am on a break !!

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by paddle_sweep » Thu Jun 24, 2010 3:42 am
What's the problem with 'A'?

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by Pdgmat2010 » Thu Jun 24, 2010 3:57 am
sumanr84 wrote:I agree with your explanations for options A,C and D.

E, however, is wrong in that it talks about "Dickinson's editors, including Johnson," means to say, there are some other authors too. Whereas, in the argument author has discussed only about Johnson. I eliminated E as soon as I saw the word "editors"
i think E is wrong because Dickinson's editors(mentioned in the beginning of the stimulus) distorted her intentions but Johnson changed the punctuation which inadvertently led to a distortion again. Even though Johnson's intentions were not to distort, this inevitably happened although due to different causes. hence E is wrong in saying that the previous editors and Johnson were unable to decipher her manuscript correctly.

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by paes » Thu Jun 24, 2010 6:18 pm
B cann't be the main point of the author.
B is a inference not the main point or conclusion of the argument.

A looks fine to me.