Comment by edflsafoiewq
6 years ago
I agree that the author doesn't get to dictate the reading of a poem (nor does the test-maker), but these questions are usually formulated to explicitly reference the intentions of the author (the "author's purpose"). Although, now that I look at a few, it looks like the common language is "The author most likely did so-and-so in order to...".
But more honest language ("What does this line mean?") would erase the veneer of objectivity; hermeneutical questions do not have "right" answers you can pick from a list of multiple choices.
> But more honest language ("What does this line mean?") would erase the veneer of objectivity; hermeneutical questions do not have "right" answers
"When you say it honestly, it looks bad. So don't say it that way".
Not targeting at you, obviously you are explaining the thought process of the exam maker, but that kinda shows the issue with them.
They looked at the question and realize that there's no right answer for these kind of question to be made in to a multiple choice question. But instead of changing the test to something else, or making it a free text answer, they choose to play with wording of the question to hide the problem with it.