Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow.
Such is the matter of imaginative or artistic literature – this transcript, not of mere fact, but of fact in its infinite variety, as modified by human preference in all its infinitely varied forms. It will be good literary art not because it is brilliant or sober, or rich, or impulsive, or severe, but just in proportion as its representation of that sense, that soul fact is true, verse being only one department of such literature, and imaginative prose, it may be thought, being the special art of the modern world, that imaginative prose should be the special and opportune art of the modern world results from two important facts about the latter: first the chaotic variety and complexity of its interests, making the intellectual issue. The really master currents of the present time incalculable- a condition of mind little susceptible of the restraint proper to verse form, so that the most characteristic verse of the nineteenth century has been lawless verse, and secondly, an all pervading naturalism, a curiosity about everything whatever, as it really is involving a certain humility of attitude, cognate to what must, after all, be the less ambitious form of literature. And prose thus asserting itself as the special and privileged artistic faculty of the present day, will be however critics may try to narrow its scope, as varied in its excellence as humanity itself reflecting on the facts of its latest experience – an instrument of many stops, meditative, observant descriptive, eloquent, analytic, plaintive. Fervid.
Which of the following is closest to what the author means by ‘less ambitious form of literature’?
Correct Answer :
Literature responsive to heightened state of human perception
Solution :
The correct option is: Literature responsive to heightened state of human perception
To understand why this is the correct choice, let us trace the author's argument and terminology in the passage step-by-step.
First, the author introduces imaginative or artistic literature as a "transcript, not of mere fact, but of fact in its infinite variety, as modified by human preference in all its infinitely varied forms." Here, literature is described as a reflection of how humans perceive and prefer to represent facts, showing that the core of artistic literature is bound to human perception and subjective interpretation.
Second, the author discusses why "imaginative prose" is the "special and opportune art of the modern world." Two key reasons are given:
1. The chaotic variety and complexity of modern interests make it difficult to fit them into the strict restraints of traditional verse (poetry), leading to "lawless verse" in the nineteenth century.
2. An "all pervading naturalism" and "a curiosity about everything whatever, as it really is."
Third, the author notes that this curiosity involves "a certain humility of attitude, cognate to what must, after all, be the less ambitious form of literature." The "less ambitious form of literature" refers to prose in contrast to the grand, structured ambitions of traditional verse. This humbler, less ambitious prose form is designed to capture every detail of reality and human experience exactly as it is observed.
Therefore, this "less ambitious form" (prose) is highly responsive, flexible, and humble enough to capture the complex, varied, and heightened states of human perception and curiosity in the modern world without the rigid formal constraints of verse.
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