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 re-suit. This caution is particularly relevant in an assessment of the differences between Black poets at the turn of the century (1900—1909) and those of the generation of the 1920’s. These differences include the bolder and more forthright speech of the layer 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 1910’s and 1920’s 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 decades. Certainly differences can be noted between "conservative" Black poets such as Counter Cullen and Claude 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 1920’s Black poets did debate whether they should deal 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 these poets wrote their best poems when they spoke out of racial feeling, race being, as James Weldon Johnson rightly put it, "perforce the thing the Negro poet knows best. "
    At the turn of the 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 gifted, though Roscoe Jamison and G. M. McClellen may be mentioned as exceptions. They chose not to write in dialect, which, as Sterling Brown has suggested, "meant a rejection of stereotypes of Negro life," and they refused to write only about racial subjects. This refusal had both a positive and a negative consequence. As Brown observes, "valuable 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.
According to the passage, which of the following did most turn-of-the-century Black poets generally do?

选项 A、Described scenes from their own lives.
B、Expressed complex feelings in the words of ordinary people.
C、Aroused patriotic feelings by expressing devotion to the land.
D、Wrote in ways that did not challenge accepted literary practice.

答案D

解析 事实细节题。根据turn-of-the-century和Black poets定位到第四段第一句。该句提到,世纪之交,大多数黑人诗人以这个时代的传统方式写作,即他们没有突破已有的创作方式,D项表述正确,故为答案。最后一段最后一句提到, 黑人诗人跟白人诗人一样,脱离自身的经历,多创作概括性主题的诗,也就是当时黑人诗人的创作并不涉及自己的生活或平常人的情感,故A项和B项错误。文中没有具体谈及黑人诗人通过表达对这片土地的热爱来激发(人们的)爱国之情,故C项错误。
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