Analyzing Expository Writing

1. What is the main idea of the paragraph?

The main idea of this paragraph is the judgement of the poets.

2. Using a dictionary, context clues, or a priori knowledge, define the following terms (in the
sense that Eliot is using them):

peculiar-strange or odd; unusual

inevitably- as is certain to happen; unavoidably.

canon- the body of rules, principles, or standards accepted as axiomatic

and universally binding in a field of study or art.

infallible- unfailing in effectiveness or operation; certain

conform- to act in accord with the prevailing standards, attitudes,

practices, etc., of society or a group:

3. According to Eliot, is a work of art that conforms completely really a work of art? Type
the sentence in which this information is found. To conform merely would be for the
new work not really to conform at all; it would not be new, and would therefore
not be a work of art.

4. According to Eliot, should contemporary works of art be judged as “better” or “worse”

than past ones? Type the sentence in which this information is found. And we do not
quite say that the new is more valuable because it fits in; but its fitting in is a test
of its value–a test, it is true, which can only be slowly and cautiously applied, for
we are none of us infallible judges of conformity.

5. Using a dictionary the methods described at the beginning of the “Advanced Reading
Skills” lesson, provide a “translation” of Eliot’s paragraph:
I believe that the translation for this paragraph is, we are in no place to judge the new
that has come in any kind of way.