Question

1. “poetry” is a 1919 poem by marianne moore. the poem highlights an ambivalence toward poetry as the speaker acknowledges its merits while also expressing a sense of displeasure, writing ______

which quotation from “poetry” most effectively illustrates the claim?
*2 points

a. “nor is it valid / to discriminate against ‘business documents and / schoolbooks’; all these phenomena are important.”

b. “one must make a distinction / however: when dragged into prominence by half poets, the result is not / poetry”

c. “when poems become so derivative as to become unintelligible, the / same thing may be said for all of us—that we / do not admire what / we cannot understand.”

d. “reading poetry, however, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers that there is in / it after all, a place for the genuine.”

Explanation:

The claim is about the speaker's ambivalence toward poetry (acknowledging merits while having displeasure). Option D shows "contempt" (displeasure) but also discovering "a place for the genuine" (acknowledging merit), matching the ambivalence. Option A is about valuing non - poetry texts, B is about bad poetry from half - poets, and C is about not admiring unintelligible poems, none of which show the mix of acknowledging merit and having displeasure as clearly as D.

Answer:

D. "Reading [poetry], however, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers that there is in / it after all, a place for the genuine."