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Flashcards: Context-Dependent Meanings of Words and Phrases in Argumentative Humanities Passages
Adapted from "Mr. Wordsworth" in The Spirit of the Age: or Contemporary Portraits by William Hazlitt (1825)
Mr. Wordsworth’s genius is a pure emanation of the Spirit of the Age. Had he lived in any other period of the world, he would never have been heard of. As it is, he has some difficulty to contend with the lethargy of his intellect, and the meanness of his subject. With him “lowliness is young ambition’s ladder;” but he finds it a toil to climb in this way the steep of Fame. His homely Muse can hardly raise her wing from the ground, nor spread her hidden glories to the sun. He has “no figures nor no fantasies, which busy passion draws in the brains of men:” neither the gorgeous machinery of mythological lore, nor the splendid colors of poetic diction. His style is vernacular: he delivers household truths. He sees nothing loftier than human hopes; nothing deeper than the human heart. This he probes, this he tampers with, this he poises, with all its incalculable weight of thought and feeling, in his hands, and at the same time calms the throbbing pulses of his own heart, by keeping his eye ever fixed on the face of nature. If he can make the life-blood flow from the wounded breast, this is the living coloring with which he paints his verse: if he can assuage the pain or close up the wound with the balm of solitary musing, or the healing power of plants and herbs and “skyey influences,” this is the sole triumph of his art. He takes the simplest elements of nature and of the human mind, the mere abstract conditions inseparable from our being, and tries to compound a new system of poetry from them; and has perhaps succeeded as well as anyone could. “Nihil humani a me alienum puto” (I consider nothing that is human alien to me)—is the motto of his works. He thinks nothing low or indifferent of which this can be affirmed: everything that professes to be more than this, that is not an absolute essence of truth and feeling, he holds to be vitiated, false, and spurious. In a word, his poetry is founded on setting up an opposition (and pushing it to the utmost length) between the natural and the artificial: between the spirit of humanity, and the spirit of fashion and of the world!
It is one of the innovations of the time. It partakes of, and is carried along with, the revolutionary movement of our age: the political changes of the day were the model on which he formed and conducted his poetical experiments. His Muse (it cannot be denied, and without this we cannot explain its character at all) is a leveling one. It proceeds on a principle of equality, and strives to reduce all things to the same standard. It is distinguished by a proud humility. It relies upon its own resources, and disdains external show and relief. It takes the commonest events and objects, as a test to prove that nature is always interesting from its inherent truth and beauty, without any of the ornaments of dress or pomp of circumstances to set it off. Hence the unaccountable mixture of seeming simplicity and real abstruseness in the Lyrical Ballads. Fools have laughed at, and wise men scarcely understand, them. He takes a subject or a story merely as pegs or loops to hang thought and feeling on; the incidents are trifling, in proportion to his contempt for imposing appearances; the reflections are profound, according to the gravity and aspiring pretensions of his mind.
Which of these is the best antonym to the underline word “inherent”?
superficial
extrinsic
spurious
vain
illegitimate
All SSAT Upper Level Reading Resources
Our SSAT Upper Level Reading Comprehension Flashcards each contain one question that might appear on the Upper Level Reading Comprehension section of the SSAT. You can use them to get a comprehensive overview of each topic covered by the SSAT Upper Level Reading Comprehension section one problem at a time, or to do problem drills that focus on particular problem types or content areas found on the SSAT Upper Level Reading Comprehension section.
Reading and comprehending what is written is a very important skill your child needs to learn well to succeed inside and outside of the classroom. If your child is taking the SSAT Upper Level test soon, then they need to prepare well for the Reading section of the test, which will test their reading comprehension rigorously. Varsity Tutors' Learning Tools offers a full suite of SSAT Upper Level Reading study help activities that can be accessed from any computer, tablet, or smartphone.
While other Learning Tools, like the practice tests, are great study materials for your child to use when they have time to sit down and complete them, the SSAT Upper Level Reading Flashcards are perfect for studying when on-the-go or when time is limited. Your child can practice these free flashcards online between classes in school, while riding to and from school and extracurricular activities, or even during commercial breaks of that favorite television show they just can't miss every week!
Unlike the practice tests, the SSAT Upper Level Reading Flashcards don't have timers that determine how long your child takes to answer the questions. While getting in some timed practice is very important, especially when test day is near, if there are topics your child struggles with immensely, then studying the concepts without feeling like they are working “against the clock” can be helpful at first. They can take as long as they need to learn the steps needed to find the right answer without feeling anxious about how long it takes for them to build up this skill. Once they learn to solve the questions they struggle with accurately, they can later work on building up speed during the practice tests.
The SSAT Upper Level Reading review flashcards were created in the same format as the official test, and they each contain a literary passage and a multiple-choice question based on that passage. If you do decide to use the flashcards maker to create additional flashcards for your child to study, they will be most helpful for test preparation if they are also created in this format. When using the flashcards builder, you can also enter the same literary passage on several blank flashcards templates, because each passage on the SSAT will be followed with several questions based on it.
The SSAT Upper Level Reading flashcards have several types of literary passages on them, including humanities, argumentative humanities, narrative humanities, literary fiction, poetry, science, narrative science, social science, and narrative social science passages. The passages on the SSAT will be based on similar topics. Follow-up questions on the flashcards quiz your child on their understanding of authorial attitude, authorial tone, main ideas, and details of the passages. Groups of flashcards also help your child practice determining the meaning of a word based on the context.
The SSAT Upper Level Reading test will contain 40 questions based on a handful of literary passages. Even if your child has great reading skills, don't assume that their reading comprehension skills are at the level they need to be to perform well on the test. Locate the weak areas of your child's reading comprehension skills by having them take a diagnostic exam, and you can then help them build the skills they are weakest in by having them study with the flashcards based on them.
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