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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Part II, Sections I - IX.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Burke define sympathy?
(a) As a sort of emotional substitution between people or through art.
(b) As a painful realization, and reasoned acceptance, of one's humanity .
(c) As a desirable state of mind reached by looking inward towards one's own soul.
(d) As an unnecessary show of weakness that will cause pain.

2. What problem does Burke find with merely defining a term like "taste?"
(a) The process of defining the term may go on forever, and become overwhelming.
(b) There is a danger of confining and limiting the term to our present understanding.
(c) Taste is only an idea, not a reality, so it cannot be defined or described.
(d) People may disagree with and contest his definition.

3. How does Burke define pain and pleasure?
(a) They are necessary to each other and cannot be separated.
(b) They are figments of human imagination that help us explain our world.
(c) They are each of a positive nature, not dependent upon each other.
(d) They are the only essential qualities about which people are concerned.

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

5. What is the main manifestation of infinity Burke mentions?
(a) A frequently repeated idea or motion.
(b) A recurring dream or nightmare.
(c) A seemingly endless journey.
(d) A quiet walk in a grove of trees.

Short Answer Questions

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

2. According to Burke, what will the result be of the long, close study of an object?

3. Burke's general definition for "obscurity" is:

4. What is the general reason Burke wrote the book, as stated in the First Preface?

5. Which of the following is one of the general privations Burke lists?

(see the answer key)

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