England had a well-established literary tradition at the time—Shakespeare had died only four years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1620. By contrast, because North American settlers were occupied with establishing the colonies and had little time to devote to the creation of original works of fiction, the majority of early colonial literature was utilitarian—observations of North American geography, biographies, and treatises. Answer choices for the above question

A. The passage explains that Shakespeare was an important influence on early colonial literature.
B. The passage explains the impact of England’s taxation on early colonial literature.
C. The passage describes a notable difference between English and early colonial literature.
D. The passage suggests that English literature was more interesting than early colonial literature.