View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why does the topic of "disease" give pathologists pause?
(a) It is very hard to define.
(b) Medicine largely does not know how to combat disease.
(c) Pathologists are extremely underfunded.
(d) It is difficult to deal with terminal cases.

2. What event does Mencken believe led to the European Renaissance?
(a) The Black Plague.
(b) The Fall of Rome.
(c) The Rise of Charlemagne.
(d) The invention of the printing press.

3. What quality makes for the best literary critic, according to Chapter 24?
(a) Adhering to a specific philosophical system.
(b) Accuracy and a need to refute error.
(c) Advancing a personal agenda or doctrine.
(d) The goal to create a work of art.

4. Who does Mencken consider the greatest classical composer?
(a) Beethoven.
(b) Schubert.
(c) Brahms.
(d) Mozart.

5. Which is the "most democratic" of art forms according to Mencken?
(a) Drama.
(b) Sculpture.
(c) Music.
(d) Poetry.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was "unusual" about Mr. Gray?

2. Mencken has what criticism for "new poets"?

3. Which president did Charles Joseph Bonaparte work for?

4. Mencken begins Chapter 25 with a philosophical discussion of what phenomenon?

5. What does Mencken believe is the proper focus of psychology?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is Mencken's opinion of the music of Johann Strauss? Why wasn't Strauss' music more well-received in America?

2. Summarize Mencken's account of a Jack Dempsey boxing match.

3. In an editorial dated October, 1928, Mencken discusses schoolboys. Summarize this article. What suggestions does Mencken have for improving education?

4. What insight does Mencken provide about physical disease/illness?

5. Why does Mencken make mention of Charles Joseph Bonaparte? Who was Bonaparte, and what was Mencken's opinion of him?

6. What does Mencken believe about contemporary new inventions? Mention the telephone as well as the thermostat in your response.

7. What should poetry ideally be, according to Mencken? What makes for a good poem? And how does taste in poetry reflect upon a person's qualities?

8. Why does Mencken make mention of Sister Aimee? Who was Sister Aimee, and what was Mencken's opinion of her?

9. What is Mencken's opinion of the teaching profession? How does he compare and contrast teaching styles of his schoolboy days to today?

10. Describe the following under the category of what Mencken calls "'The Lesser Arts": a) oil painting, b) drama.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 964 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample