Explanation
Correct answer: A.
Choice A is the best answer because it most logically completes the text’s discussion of translating Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The text states that the poem was written in alliterative verse, a form that features extensive repetition of initial consonant sounds, and that, according to Armitage, the patterns of sound in the poem are essential to the poem’s structure. The text also notes that many Modern English words begin with different sounds than their Middle English equivalents (that is, the words with the same meanings) do. This means that if a translator were to render the poem’s Middle English words into their direct Modern English equivalents, the initial consonant sounds of many words would change and the original alliterative patterns wouldn’t hold. It follows, then, that a strictly literal (word for word) translation would preserve much of the original text’s meaning at the expense of sonic and structural qualities that are also integral to the experience of reading the poem.
Why the other choices are wrong
Choice B
Choice B is incorrect because the text doesn’t address modern readers’ preferences among translation approaches. Although the text implies that Armitage may have prioritized the sonic patterns and structure of the original poem in his translation, it doesn’t give any indication that this approach would be less appealing to modern readers than an approach that directly translates the words but loses the original patterns of sounds in the poem.
Choice C
Choice C is incorrect. The text actually suggests that a strictly literal Modern English translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight wouldn’t be especially faithful to the original intentions of the poem because the Modern English words would change the sonic patterns Armitage notes are essential to the alliterative poem’s structure—that is, such a translation would change patterns of sound that are a fundamental part of the original poem’s composition. Moreover, there’s no reason to think that a strictly literal translation of that poem would be more faithful to the original intentions than literal translations of other alliterative Middle English poems would be, since they would presumably all face the issue of a change in the patterns of sounds.
Choice D
Choice D is incorrect because the end of the text makes a point about sounds, not meaning. Modern readers interested in gathering historical information from the poem might prefer a strictly literal translation (one that directly translates the words without making additional changes), but that idea doesn’t logically follow from the fact that many Modern English words start with different sounds than their Middle English counterparts; a change in the sounds wouldn’t have any effect on the information the poem conveys.