1.

According to the passage, most turn-of-the century Black poets generally did which of the
following?

A. Wrote in ways that did not challenge accepted literary practice.

B. Described scenes from their own lives.
C. Aroused patriotic feelings by expressing devotion to the land.
D. Expressed complex feelings in the words of ordinary people.
E. Interpreted the frustrations of Blacks to an audience of Whites.

2. According to the passage, an issue facing Black poets in the 1920’s was whether they should

A. seek a consensus on new techniques of poetry

B. write exclusively about and for Blacks
C. withdraw their support from a repressive society
 D. turn away from social questions to recollect the tranquillity of nature
E. identify themselves with an international movement of Black writers.

3. It can be inferred from the passage that classifying a poet as either conservative or experimental
would be of “little significance” (line 13) when discussing Black poets of the 1910’s and the 1920’s
because

A. these poets wrote in very similar styles

B. these poets all wrote about nature in the same way
C. these poets were fundamentally united by a sense of racial achievement despite differences
in poetic style
D. such a method of classification would fail to take account of the influence of general poetic
practice
E. such a method of classification would be relevant only in a discussion of poets separated in
time by more than three decades

4. The author quotes Sterling Brown in lines 35-37 in order to

A. present an interpretation of some Black assertion about their acceptance of various poetic
styles
B. introduce a distinction between Black poets who used dialect and White poets who did not
C. disprove James Weldon Johnson’s claim that race is what “the Negro poet knows best”
D. suggest what were the effects of some Black poets’ decision not to write only about racial
subjects
E. prove that Black poets at the turn of the century wrote less conventionally than did their
White counterparts

5. It can be inferred from the passage that the author finds the work of the majority of the Black
poets at the turn of the century to be

A. unexciting
B. calming
C. confusing
D. delightful
E. inspiring

6. The author would be most likely to agree that poets tend to produce better poems when they

A. express a love of nature

B. declaim noble emotions
C. avoid technical questions about style
D. emulate the best work of their predecessors
E. write from personal experience

7. Which of the following best describes the attitude of the author toward classification as a
technique in literary history?

A. Enthusiastic
B. Indifferent
C. Wary
D. Derisive
E. Defensive