Question

For though we say that we know nothing about Shakespeare's state of mind, even as we say that, we are saying something about Shakespeare's state of mind. The reason perhaps why we know so little of Shakespeare—compared with Donne or Ben Jonson or Milton—is that his grudges and spites and antipathies are hidden from us. We are not held up by some “revelation” which reminds us of the writer. All desire to protest, to preach, to proclaim an injury, to pay off a score, to make the world the witness of some hardship or grievance was fired out of him and consumed. Therefore his poetry flows from him free and unimpeded. If ever a human being got his work expressed completely, it was Shakespeare. If ever a mind was incandescent, unimpeded, I thought, turning again to the bookcase, it was Shakespeare's mind.

–A Room of One’s Own,
Virginia Woolf

Which text structure is used in this passage?

cause–effect
chronological order
compare–contrast
problem–solution

Answer 1

Cause–effect.

Woolf gives reasons (Shakespeare's grudges and desires were hidden/consumed) that lead to the effect (his poetry flows free and unimpeded; his mind was incandescent), so the passage explains causes and their effect.