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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Burke say is the primary passion ignited by the sublime?
(a) Confusion.
(b) Anger.
(c) Astonishment.
(d) Joy.

2. What is Burke's general plan of action for this book?
(a) It will refute all other theories of the sublime.
(b) It will posit wild, untested new ideas.
(c) It will be a methodical study.
(d) It will focus only on human society.

3. Why is grief a part of pleasure, according to Burke?
(a) Because people actively and willfully grieve.
(b) Because grief always gives way to laughter.
(c) Because all endings are beginnings.
(d) Because grief reminds the individual that life continues.

4. What kind of colors are unfit to produce what Burke terms "grand images?"
(a) Bold colors.
(b) Cheerful colors.
(c) Earth tones.
(d) Jewel tones.

5. What two main passions connect with this creative power of the mind?
(a) Pain and pleasure.
(b) Lust and desire.
(c) Love and hate.
(d) Curiosity and understanding.

Short Answer Questions

1. What set of animals does Burke use as examples of power and the sublime?

2. Which idea is more effective over the other in affecting the imagination, according to Burke?

3. Burke asserts that vastness of dimension is as sublime as:

4. Which medium does Burke feel arouses the passions most effectively?

5. To which other passions is the idea of power closely related, according to Burke?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Burke describe sympathy?

2. What is "magnificence," according to Burke?

3. Describe Burke's definition of the sublime.

4. What is the main problem with creating prescribed definitions, especially of taste, according to Burke?

5. What is the significance of the senses to the faculty of taste, according to Burke?

6. What qualities of sound produce the sublime, according to Burke?

7. What kind of infinity exists in "pleasing objects," according to Burke, and what is an example he uses to support his claim?

8. What is astonishment, according to Burke, and why is it important?

9. Describe the types of dimensional greatness Burke notes are part of the sublime.

10. What types of colors are productive of the sublime, and which colors are not, according to Burke?

(see the answer keys)

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