2. 外语
  3. The making of classifications by literary historians can be a somewhat risky enterprise. When Black poets are discussed separate

The making of classifications by literary historians can be a somewhat risky enterprise. When Black poets are discussed separate

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问题      The making of classifications by literary historians can be a somewhat risky enterprise. When Black poets are discussed separately as a group, for instance, the extent to which their work reflects the development of poetry in general should not be forgotten, or a distortion of literary history may result. This reminder is particularly relevant in an assessment of the differences between Black poets at the turn of last century (1900—1909) and those of the generation of’ the 1920s. These differences include the bolder and more forthright speech of the later generation and its technical inventiveness. It should be remembered, though, that comparable differences ’also existed for similar generations of White poets.
      When poets of the 1910s and 1920s are considered together, however, the distinctions that literary historians might make between "conservative" and "experimental" would be of little significance in a discussion of Black poets, although these remain helpful classification for White poets of these decades①. Certainly differences can be noted between "conservative" Black poets such as Countee Cullen, and Cluade McKay and "experimental" ones such as Jean Toomer and Langston Hughes. But Black poets were not battling over old or new styles; rather, one accomplished Black poet was ready to welcome another, whatever his or her style, for what mattered was racial pride.
   However, in the 1920s Black poets did debate with specifically racial subjects. They asked whether they should only write about Black experience for a Black audience or whether such demands were restrictive. It may be said, though, that virtually all those poets wrote their best poems when they spoke out of racial feeling, race being, as James Johnson rightly put it "inevitably the thing the Negro poet knows best"②.
     At the turn of the 20th century, by contrast, most Black poets generally wrote in the conventional manner of the age and expressed noble, if vague, emotions in their poetry. These poets were not unusually gift ed, though Roscoe Jamision and G. M. McClellan may be mentioned as exceptions. They chose not to write in dialect, which, as Sterling Brown has suggested, "meant a rejection of stereotypes of Nero life," and they refused to write only about racial subjects.  This refusal had both a positive and a negative consequence. As Brown observes, "Valuably insisting that Negro poets should not be confined to issues of race, these poets committed (an) error.., they refused to look into their hearts and write. "These are important insights, but one must stress that this refusal to look within was also typical of most White poets of the United States at the time. They, too, often turned from their own experience and consequently produced not very memorable poems about vague topics, such as the peace of nature.
Why does the author NOT think highly of the distinction of "conservative" and "experimental"?
选项 A、Because these poets wrote in very different styles.
B、Because these poets had a lot in common and it’s no need to classify them.
C、Because these poets were fundamentally united by a sense of racial achievement despite differences in poetic styles.
D、Because such a method of classification would fail to take account of the influence of general poetic practice.
答案C
解析 推理判断题。根据第二段最后一句，尽管两派诗人的风格迥异，他们本身对此却并无争议，真正重要的是种族自尊心，不是风格差异。是种族成就感、自豪感把他们紧紧联系在了一起，正是从这个意义上来说，这种分类没有意义。
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