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Answer: BSet 3: Inferences (Advanced)
Explanation
PASSAGE
The biographical critic insists the poem's melancholy reflects the poet's depression following her divorce. The formalist counters that the speaker—a male persona the poet invented—cannot be equated with the author, and the melancholy derives from metrical choices creating a slow, heavy rhythm. Each approach illuminates something the other misses.
What does the disagreement suggest about literary interpretation?
A. One critical approach is always entirely correct.
B. Different methodological frameworks can yield complementary insights into the same text.✓ Correct
C. Authors and speakers are always identical.
D. The poem's melancholy has no explanation.
Detailed Explanation
'Each approach illuminates something the other misses' = complementary insights from different methods.
Key Evidence:
• "Each approach illuminates something the other misses"
Why others are wrong: A (Both have value.), C (The formalist distinguishes author from speaker.), D (Both approaches explain it differently.).