Question

Read the passage from "Optimism.”

A poet once said I must be happy because I did not see the bare, cold present, but lived in a beautiful dream. I do live in a beautiful dream; but that dream is the actual, the present,—not cold, but warm; not bare, but furnished with a thousand blessings. The very evil which the poet supposed would be a cruel disillusionment is necessary to the fullest knowledge of joy.

Keller achieves her purpose of convincing the audience by using a

fact.
quotation.
rebuttal.
statistic.

Answer 1

rebuttal

Keller quotes a poet’s opposing view and then directly refutes it, using that counterargument to persuade the audience.