CAT 2024 Question Paper | VARC Slot 3

CAT Questions

The only way to master VARC during your CAT Preparation is by practicing actual CAT question paper. Practice RCs with detailed video and text solutions from Previous CAT Question Papers.

Question 1 : The passage given below is followed by four alternate summaries. Choose the option that best captures the essence of the passage.

Lyric poetry is a genre of private meditation rather than public commitment. The impulse in Marxism toward changing a society deemed unacceptable in its basic design would seem to place demands on lyric poetry that such poetry, with its tendency toward the personal, the small scale, and the idiosyncratic, could never answer. There is within Marxism, however, also a strand of thought that would locate in lyric poetry alternative modes of perception and description that call forth a vision of worlds at odds with a repressive reality or that draw attention to the workings of ideology within the hegemonic culture. The poetic imagination may indeed deflect larger social concerns, but it may also be implicitly critical and utopian.

---

---

Explanatory Answer

The main idea of the paragraph is that lyric poetry, with its tendency towards the personal and idiosyncratic, seems at odds with Marxism, which has an impulse to address larger social concerns and change societies. However, within Marxism, there is a strand of thought that believes lyric poetry may be implicitly critical and utopian. Option 4 is a good summary.
The paragraph does not say Marxism has "internal contradictions" due to which there are differences in how lyric poetry is perceived. It only says that one strand of Marxism believes lyric poetry can bring to light how envisioned worlds do not match the repressive reality. Option 1 is hence incorrect.
The first part of option 2 is correct: the focus of lyric poetry is largely personal while that of Marxism is bringing change in society. But the paragraph does not say that unless the difference is resolved, poetry will remain largely utopian. So, option 2 is ruled out.
Option 3 is easily ruled out. The paragraph does not say Marxism makes "unreasonable" demands on lyric poetry or that the merits of lyric poetry are "largely ignored" by Marxism.

---

Hence, the answer is 'The focus of lyric poetry as personal may not seem compatible with Marxism. However, it is possible to envisage lyric poetry as a symbol of resistance against an oppressive culture.'

Choice D is the correct answer.

Verbal Ability for CAT | CAT Reading Comprehension

Verbal Ability for CAT| CAT Para Jumble

Verbal Ability for CAT | CAT Sentence Elimination

Verbal Ability for CAT | CAT Paragraph Completion

Verbal Ability for CAT | CAT Critical Reasoning

Verbal Ability for CAT | CAT Word Usage

Verbal Ability for CAT| CAT Para Summary

Verbal Ability for CAT | CAT Text Completion

Verbal Ability for CAT | CAT Sentence Correction