His poetry has room for a wide range of men and women because, after all, he is interested in the diversity of the world and the diversity of people that it contains.

• A. Susanna Morton Braund
• B. Ian Du Quesnay
• C. Damien Nelis
• D. Richard Jenkyns

Answer: (D)

The idea being tested is that Virgil’s poetry encompasses a broad range of people and experiences, not just a narrow heroic ideal. Richard Jenkyns is known for reading Virgil as offering a wide, humanistic view of the world—engaging with many kinds of lives, voices, and cultures within the epic’s canvas. This perspective highlights the Aeneid’s travel through diverse places and encounters with varied characters, including women as well as men, and a spectrum of social roles, moods, and conflicts. The quoted statement mirrors that approach by emphasizing Virgil’s interest in the diversity of the world and its inhabitants, rather than restricting the poem to a single, uniform heroic vision. Other scholars may focus on different aspects—style, politics, or reception—but the claim about inclusivity and worldly variety aligns best with Jenkyns’s reading of Virgil.