2024 CSAT — Q71

Locate. This asks for the best-supported inference: find the passage’s central contrast and read the inference off it. The passage opposes poetry to religion and science: the latter “posit or expect… belief in absolute truths,” and “Truth usually does not admit any contradictions or imperfections… not of much use for poetry,” whereas “Poetry abides by the plurality of life and existence… full of contradictions.” The core claim: poetry embraces imperfection and plurality where absolute-truth systems do not.

Test (find-the-line-then-match + best-vs-partial). (a) — poetry, not science or religion, recognizes and accepts imperfections — restates that central contrast directly and spans the passage. Note this is a best-inference item, so even a partly-supported rival must yield to the option that captures the core message.

Eliminate by anatomy. (b) is too strong for what the passage says, and reverses it — “poetry is anathema to truth” hardens the passage’s nuanced “truth is not of much use for poetry” into hostility. (c) is a claim the passage never actually makes — “romantic, imaginary… about feeling” recasts the passage’s plurality/contradiction point as mere emotion, a frame the text never uses. (d) is textually touched but only partial — the passage does say poetry stands “against the tyranny of truth” and “the arrogance of power… proposes both humility and defiance,” but (d) narrows that to pure “dynamic resistance” in “a world of violence… bigotry,” overstating the defiance thread and dropping the humility, and it is not the passage’s central message (which is about accepting imperfection/plurality). The transferable rule on best-inference: choose the option that captures the passage’s core contrast, not a real but secondary strand. Key: (a).

“Unlike religion and science, poetry does not posit or expect any belief in absolute truths”; “Truth usually does not admit any contradictions or imperfections… It is, therefore, not of much use for poetry. Poetry abides by the plurality of life and existence… full of contradictions” — the message is that poetry (unlike science/religion, which seek absolute truth) recognizes and accepts contradictions/imperfections, exactly (a).

The passage’s argument: unlike religion and science, poetry expects no belief in absolute truths; absolute truth “does not admit any contradictions or imperfections” and so is “not of much use for poetry,” which “abides by the plurality of life… full of contradictions.” The central message is that poetry accepts imperfection and plurality where truth-seeking systems reject them.

(a) states this directly. (b) overstates poetry as “anathema to truth”; (c) reframes poetry as romantic feeling; (d) captures only the secondary defiance thread and overstates it as pure resistance.

Answer: (a).

The sharpest contest is (a) vs (d), and it tests the “best reflects” discipline. (d) is textually touched — poetry’s defiance against tyranny and power is in the passage — but it is a secondary motif, narrowed and overstated as pure resistance. (a) captures the passage’s organising contrast: poetry accepts the contradictions and imperfections that absolute-truth systems (science, religion) refuse. On best-inference, the option that names the core contrast beats the one that amplifies a side-thread.