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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. Which does Burke's definition of "grace" include?
(a) Posture and motion.
(b) Conversation and debate.
(c) Painting and drawing.
(d) Speaking foreign languages.

2. What body part's workings does Burke describe in detail?
(a) The heart.
(b) The eye.
(c) The liver.
(d) The joints.

3. What emotion has the physical effects of a reclined head, half-closed eyelids, and sighing breath, according to Burke?
(a) Curiosity.
(b) Love.
(c) Sadness.
(d) Fear.

4. What type of poetry operates by imitation?
(a) Lyric poetry.
(b) Epic poetry.
(c) Dramatic poetry.
(d) Elegiac poetry.

5. Why, according to Burke, is proportion not the cause of beauty in animals?
(a) Because all species of animals have different proportions, yet we as a society deem them beautiful.
(b) Because our idea of proportion is so clear and obvious as to preclude the beautiful.
(c) Because proportion and geometry can only be discussed in reference to architecture.
(d) Because beauty relies upon the relative length, width, and height of the object.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Burke use the example of Campanella?

2. What are the first examples Burke cites to demonstrate his argument about beauty and proportion?

3. What type of word are man, castle, horse, etc., as defined by Burke?

4. To what does Burke compare human listening methods?

5. What examples does Burke use to prove that human proportionality does not necessarily equal human beauty?

Short Essay Questions

1. Summarize the difference between Locke's idea of the nature of darkness and Burke's idea of the nature of darkness.

2. According to Burke, why is the taste of sweetness pleasant, and how does he decide this?

3. What two examples does Burke use to illustrate the sublimity of succession in visual objects? Upon which principles does Burke assert these two examples operate?

4. What does Burke assert affects the mind besides natural causes, and how does this thing relate to natural causes?

5. To what effect does Burke use the example of Campanella?

6. What, according to Burke, is the primary strength of poetry?

7. According to Burke, how does the human eye work?

8. What primary example does Burke cite in his argument that words may be used without being connected to images, and what is the significance of this example?

9. What does Burke mean by "fitness," and why is fitness not, according to him, the cause of beauty?

10. What does Burke identify as the three effects of words?

(see the answer keys)

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