Question

What is ironic about this excerpt from "Poetry" by Marianne Moore?

Reading it, however, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers in it after all, a place for the genuine.

A.) The speaker does not change her view of always appreciating poetry.
B.) The speaker does not change her view of feeling disdain for poetry.
C.) The speaker says she enjoys poetry but then decides that there is no use for it.
D.) The speaker says she dislikes poetry but then makes an argument in favor of it.

Answer 1

The correct answer among all the other choices is D.) The speaker says she dislikes poetry but then makes an argument in favor of it. Thank you for posting your question. I hope this answer helped you. Let me know if you need more help. 

Answer 2

The correct answer is D. The speaker says she dislikes poetry but then makes an argument in favor of it.

The line begins with the speaker expressing her dislike of poetry. She says she reads it with "a perfect contempt for it." When she says she reads poetry with contempt, she means that she considers poetry beneath her.

However, after expressing her dislike of poetry, she then makes an argument in favor of it. She says that she finds in it "a place for the genuine." This means that even though she finds poetry beneath her, she does find something real about it. The genuine nature of poetry is an argument in its favor.

Therefore, the correct answer is D.