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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?"
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
Full Transcript
- 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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