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AP English Literature and Composition Videos 72 videos

AP English Literature and Composition 1.4 Passage Drill 3
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AP English Literature and Composition 1.4 Passage Drill 3. How is Burne's view of pacifism best characterized in lines 57 through 67?

AP English Literature and Composition 1.6 Passage Drill 5
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AP English Literature and Composition 1.6 Passage Drill 5. Death is primarily characterized as what?

AP English Literature and Composition 1.7 Passage Drill 5
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AP English Literature and Composition 1.7 Passage Drill 5. Which line indicates the turn or shift in this poem?

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AP English Literature and Composition 1.9 Passage Drill 2 210 Views


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AP English Literature and Composition 1.9 Passage Drill 2. What does the word "want" mean in the context of line 20?

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

A little birdie told us you wanted to answer a shmoopy question...

00:09

Hit pause and look over this passage. Oh, you know you want to...

00:33

What does the word "want" mean in the context of line 15?

00:37

And here are the potential answers...

00:40

Okay... so this question is asking for themeaning of a word... but it's not quite a vocab question.

00:45

We all know what the word "want" means... in fact, for many of us it was probably our

00:49

first word.

00:51

But this question is asking what the word means in the context of a line.

00:56

So we're going to need to read and interpret... Line 15 says: "it is a mere and miserable

01:02

solitude to want true friends; without which the world is but a wilderness..."

01:08

Our first answer choice is "desire," and certainly that is usually how we would define the word "want"...

01:15

...but is the answer really going to be that easy and obvious? Let's dig a little deeper...

01:20

Is the author saying it is miserable to desire true friends?

01:24

Not at all -- he thinks that desiring true friends is a good thing.

01:29

But "want" can also mean "lack"... as in, "Keanu Reeves is wanting for acting ability."

01:36

Which is option B... and it definitely makes sense. But let's check out the others just

01:40

to be sure... C has the same problem that A did... Bacon

01:44

would say that it's a positive thing to esteem friends...

01:47

...what about "eschew?" Gesundheit.

01:50

This word basically means to shun or steer clear of... which would apply that one already

01:55

had friends they wanted to avoid... and that doesn't go with Bacon's sentiment.

02:00

E -- burden? Nah... he's talking about needing friends, not burdening anyone.

02:05

Our answer is B.

02:07

We'll get you a Kleenex.

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