Re: There has always been controversy over the nature of poetic language.
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30 Jan 2026, 05:00
EXPLANATION QUESTION #1
Answer: (A)
The context is a comparison between those who think poetry is different from everyday language and others who think that poetry reflects everyday language. Emerson is mentioned together with the latter group, and serves as an extreme example of their view, when he says "fossil poetry." Therefore, (A) is a safe answer.
(B) is a good distractor, because of the word 'fossil', but Emerson was not saying that all language becomes old.
While Emerson might agree with this, (C) does not directly answer what is implied by the phrase "fossil poetry."
(D) is a generic but attractive answer that does nothing to answer the question.