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Everyday People - Rita Dove’s poems are sometimes described asintimate (September 2023 - G01)

PASSAGE IV

Everyday People

Rita Dove’s poems are sometimes described asintimate. They are identified as such because they focus on people involved in the pure and simple act of being human. An African American writer, Dove tackles stuff that crosses and undermines racial boundaries. Her vision includes ordinary people fromdiverse walks of life as she explores the depth of their reactions to the world. An example of this perception is her poetry collection Thomas and Beulah, for which she won a Pulitzer Prize in 1987.
Seventy-nine pages long, Thomas and Beulahis loosely based on the lives of Dove’s maternal grandparents. Their story is neither tragic nor dramatic, but it does portray people who Dove states have been “ignored and lost.” Although the characters, Thomas and Beulah, live together for decades; the poems reveal lives that rarely link.
Divided into two sections, consisting oftwenty-three and twenty-one poems, respectively, the volume opens with an explanation from Dove that the poems “tell two sides of a story and are meant to be read in sequence.” In telling this story, the skillful revelation of lives are disjoined by a lack of understanding or shared perspectives. For example, while Beulah is pregnant with their third daughter, Thomas plans what he will teach a son. Although Thomas certainly loves his daughters, his longing for a son whom he can teach to be a man, according to his conception of what it means to be a man, is evident. Beulah’s life, on the other hand,is centered around her daughters.
Dove conveys the sadness in Thomas and Beulah’s relationship, but she helps ourselves to accept their marital differences by depicting the grace and goodness of their individual lives. In Thomas and Beulah, Dove demonstrates her ability to highlight the vitality andinsight that reside in her otherwise unremarkablecharacters. At it’s heart, Thomas and Beulah offers us a testament to the human spirit.

Questions from the Passage IV

46) F. NO CHANGE G. identified, as such, H .identified, as such J. identified as such:

47) A. NO CHANGE B. contemporary substance C. topics of concern D. subject matter

48) F. NO CHANGE G. world, an H. world, one J. world one

49) If the writer were to delete the phrase “Seventy-ninepages long,” the preceding sentence would primarilylose:
A. a sense of the length and complexity of Dove’s grandparents’ lives.
B. an indication of the literary importance of this book.
C. information about how long it took Dove to writethis book.
D. nothing of significance, since this information is irrelevant here.

50) F. NO CHANGE G. whose H. and J. as

51) A. NO CHANGE B. decades. These C. decades. The D. decades, the

52) In order to clarify the preceding sentence’s main point, the writer has decided to add a phrase to the end of thatsentence (replacing the period after linkwith acomma). Given that all the following are true, which one would best accomplish this purpose?
F. with a chronology of family history providinghelpful background information.
G. the couple living out their years in Akron, Ohio, as Dove’s grandparents did.
H. the husband and wife more often moving alongtheir own separate paths.
J. as personal and social history are gracefully combined.

53) Given that all the choices are true, which one besthelps the writer to continue developing the point madein the last sentence of the preceding paragraph?
A. NO CHANGE
B. the first told from Thomas’s perspective and thesecond from Beulah’s,
C. which combine to tell the story of Thomas and Beulah Hord,
D. entitled “Mandolin” and “Canary in Bloom,”

54) F. NO CHANGE G. lives are skillfully revealed by Dove H. Dove skillfully reveals lives J. skillfully revealed lives are

55) A. NO CHANGE B.In the meantime, C. After all, D. Besides,

56) Which of the following alternatives to the underlinedportion would be LEAST acceptable?
F. conversely,
G. additionally,
H. in contrast,
J. however,

57) A. NO CHANGE B. ourselves with accepting C. us for accepting D. us to accept

58) F. NO CHANGE G. their H. its’ J. its

59) A. NO CHANGE B. standing ovation C. big cheer D.high five

Question 60 asks about the preceding passageas a whole.
60) After reviewing this essay, the writer is considering adding the following true statement at the end of the opening paragraph:
In her senior year in high school Rita Dove was honored at the White House as one of the one hundred Presidential Scholars.
Should the writer add this sentence there?
F. Yes, because it adds relevant and interesting back-ground information about Dove.
G. Yes, because it helps to explain how Dove becamea successful writer.
H. No, because it would cause the paragraph to strayfrom its focus on Dove’s writing.
J. No, because it fails to explain exactly what a Pres-idential Scholar is.

Solution

Exam Edition: September 2023 - G01

Exam Year: 2023

Related topics: Text interpretation, Reading, Grammar