View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Part I.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What, according to Burke, is the cause of wrong "taste" in a person?
(a) A failure of the imagination.
(b) A failure of propriety.
(c) An overabundance of passion.
(d) A defect of judgment.

2. What is Burke's argument for the existence of the passion of ambition?
(a) Ambition is the manifestation of the natural hierarchy of low humans to high humans.
(b) Ambition forces people to look within and question their inner selves.
(c) Ambition incites in people the drive to improve and excel so society will not stagnate.
(d) Ambition incites jealousy and envy, which drive people to become violent.

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

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

5. What problem does Burke see with the contemporary notion of "taste?"
(a) Everyone pays too much attention to taste and not enough attention to reason.
(b) It's principles have not been made uniform.
(c) Nobody Burke knows seems to have taste.
(d) The concept of taste is misunderstood and badly defined.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Burke define solitude?

2. What are sources of the "sublime?"

3. Which passion belongs under the heading of "self-preservation?"

4. What large part of text has Burke added between the First and Second editions?

5. What, according to Burke, is responsible for common deviations in natural taste?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 319 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample