Passage 5. Oscar Wilde, Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray

Transcription

1 Expository Prose 135 Passage 5. Oscar Wilde, Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art s aim. The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things. The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography. Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all. The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban 3 seeing his own face in a glass. The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass. The moral life of man forms part of the subject-matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium. No artist desires to prove anything. Even things that are true can be proved. No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style. No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything. Thought and language are to the artist instruments of an art. Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art. From the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is the art of the musician. From the point of view of feeling, the actor s craft is the type. All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself. We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless The ideas expressed in the passage most closely resemble the ideas of (A) realism (B) naturalism (C) existentialism (D) aestheticism (E) romanticism 3. The ugly, beastlike slave of Prospero in Shakespeare s The Tempest

2 AP English Literature Questions to Know by Test Day In lines 1 2, To reveal art and conceal the artist is art s aim means that (A) artists should hide from public view (B) art is about morality, not fame (C) artists who seek to advance their reputation are not true artists (D) the artist s purpose is irrelevant when we view art (E) the artist is a part of the art he creates The fault the writer is referring to in line 6 is (A) artists reflecting their own lives in their art (B) people not appreciating the social value art has (C) people denigrating art altogether (D) people reading base meaning into art (E) people lacking charm According to the passage, the difference between the corrupt and the cultivated is (A) optimism in the latter (B) cynicism in the latter (C) skepticism in the latter (D) sympathy in the former (E) banality in the former The passage is developed through (A) epigrams and parallel structure (B) criticisms and blandishments (C) allegories and metaphors (D) questions and pontification (E) expostulations and hypotheses The allusion to Caliban in lines serves primarily to (A) describe nineteenth-century British citizens as slaves (B) explain that people of the nineteenth century have paradoxical expectations of art (C) express the author s distaste for romanticism (D) assert the moral rectitude of all art (E) question the legitimacy of romanticism

3 The symbol in line 23 refers to I. the didactic message underlying the art II. the morality imposed on the art by the artist III. the most important part of the art (A) I only (B) III only (C) II and III only (D) I, II, and III (E) I and II only The tone of the passage is (A) vindictive (B) maudlin (C) sarcastic (D) vituperative (E) serious According to the passage, art is none of the following except (A) theoretical (B) didactic (C) purposeful (D) ethical (E) reflective Expository Prose The final sentence of the passage does which of the following? (A) employs varied syntax (B) states the passage s central theme (C) belies points made in previous paragraphs (D) indicates the author s frustration (E) offers a sarcastic conclusion Passage 6. Zhuangzi His cook was cutting up an ox for the ruler Wen Hui. Whenever he applied his hand, leaned forward with his shoulder, planted his foot, and employed the pressure of his knee, in the audible ripping off of the skin, and slicing operation of the knife, the sounds were all in regular cadence. Movements and sounds proceeded as in the dance of the Mulberry Forest and the blended notes of the King Shou. The ruler said, Ah! Admirable! That your art should have become so perfect! (Having finished his operation), the cook laid down his knife, and replied to the remark, What your servant loves is the method of the Dao, something in advance of any art. When I first began to cut up an ox, I saw nothing but the 5

4 AP English Literature Questions to Know by Test Day (entire) carcass. After three years I ceased to see it as a whole. Now I deal with it in a spirit-like manner, and do not look at it with my eyes. The use of my senses is discarded, and my spirit acts as it wills. Observing the natural lines, (my knife) slips through the great crevices and slides through the great cavities, taking advantage of the facilities thus presented. My art avoids the ligaments and tendons, and much more the great bones. A good cook changes his knife every year; (it may have been injured) in cutting an ordinary cook changes his every month (it may have been) broken. Now my knife has been in use for nineteen years; it has cut up several thousand oxen, and yet its edge is as sharp as if it had newly come from the whetstone. There are the interstices of the joints, and the edge of the knife has no (appreciable) thickness; when that which is so thin enters where the interstice is, how easily it moves along! The blade has more than room enough. Nevertheless, whenever I come to a complicated joint, and see that there will be some difficulty, I proceed attentively and with caution, not allowing my eyes to wander from the place, and moving my hand slowly. Then by a very slight movement of the knife, the part is quickly separated, and drops like (a clod of) earth to the ground. Then standing up with the knife in my hand, I look all round, and in a leisurely manner, with an air of satisfaction, wipe it clean, and put it in its sheath. The ruler Wen Hui said, Excellent! I have heard the words of my cook, and learned from them the nourishment of (our) life The second sentence in the first paragraph of this passage is I. compound II. periodic III. complex (A) II only (B) I and III only (C) II and III only (D) III only (E) I, II, and III The writer s attitude toward butchering meat is best described as one of (A) caution (B) indifference (C) pragmatism (D) avidity (E) aversion

5 Expository Prose According to the cook, the method of the Dao is in advance of any art (8 9) because (A) it is entirely mechanistic (B) it transcends conscious effort (C) it is in harmony with the ruler (D) it requires only simple technology (E) it makes work easier The tone of the passage is (A) insincere (B) congenial (C) ironic (D) punctilious (E) ecstatic In line 17, the cook claims that he has had no need to replace his knife for nineteen years because (A) the knife has magical properties (B) he sharpens the knife regularly (C) he leaves the carcasses intact (D) his method prevents blunting (E) he always proceeds slowly Based on the ruler Wen Hui s responses to the cook (6), we can infer that Wen Hui is (A) intrusive (B) tolerant (C) enlightened (D) sarcastic (E) permissive According to the passage, the cook s method is none of the following except (A) ambidextrous (B) overwrought (C) maladroit (D) fractious (E) meticulous

6 AP English Literature Questions to Know by Test Day The cook s attitude toward the ox is best described as (A) irreverent (B) venerating (C) religious (D) animistic (E) courteous When the cook says that he deals with the ox carcass in a spirit-like manner (11), the reader can infer that (A) he goes into a hypnotic trance (B) his mastery is unconscious (C) he is in a state of heightened sensitivity (D) he defers to the ruler s wishes (E) he relies entirely on instinct The passage makes use of all of the following except (A) allegory (B) simile (C) chiasmus (D) hyperbole (E) exclamation