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Texas EOC English 2: 2.4 Understanding and Analysis of Literary Texts
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Texas EOC English 2: 1.4 Understanding and Analysis of Literary Texts
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AP English Literature and Composition 1.1 Passage Drill 2 683 Views


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AP® English Literature and Composition Passage Drill 2, Problem 1. What claim does Bacon make that contradicts the maxim "Whatsoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast or a god?"

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:03

What's shmoop got to do with it...?

00:13

Time to get your read on. Hit pause and see what this passage has to say for itself.

00:26

What claim does Bacon make that contradicts the maxim "Whatsoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast or a god?"

00:33

And here are the potential answers...

00:39

Okay... this question wants to know which answer choice contradicts something that Bacon

00:45

says early in the passage.

00:47

In order to answer this one correctly, we first have to interpret what the original

00:50

maxim is saying...

00:51

...and then find the option that basically says... the opposite.

00:55

All right, so... "Whatsoever is delighted in solitude, is either a wild beast or a god?"

01:05

"Delighted in solitude"... well, we can take that to roughly mean... "enjoying being alone."

01:10

So the maxim is saying that, if someone enjoys being alone, they are either a wild beast

01:16

or a god.

01:24

Okay, now... which statement contradicts that?

01:27

We don't have to look too far.

01:29

A -- Solitude is not godly but rather "mere and miserable."

01:34

He comes flat out and says that solitude is NOT godly...

01:37

...so it sure seems like answer A is our horse. "Solitude in holy men is feigned and false?"

01:43

No mention of holy men in the maxim, so nothing to contradict there.

01:46

"Solitude makes one a heathen, rather than a wild beast."

01:50

We might be tempted to go with this one... except that Bacon says on line 3 that the

01:53

first half of the maxim is true. Which rules out choice E as well.

01:58

And answer D -- "Solitude is desirable for communion with God"... doesn't really have

02:03

a thing to do with the maxim. So... this one is clearly wasting our time.

02:07

Yup -- the correct answer is A.

02:09

On line 14, Bacon says that the second half of the maxim is false because life is pretty

02:13

lonely and miserable without friends.

02:17

We feel the same way about English literature.

02:19

Yeah, yeah... we're dorks, and proud of it.

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