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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What are sources of the "sublime?"
(a) Anything of beauty.
(b) Anything that excites terror, pain, or danger.
(c) Anything that causes the subject to think deeply.
(d) Anything that promotes pleasure.

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

3. In what year was "A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful" first published?
(a) 1794.
(b) 1801.
(c) 1757.
(d) 1773.

4. Why, as Burke argues, are humans "more inclined to belief than to incredulity?"
(a) Because belief engages the imagination pleasantly, while incredulity is naturally negative.
(b) Because God is born in all of us, so we have a natural inclination to believe in him.
(c) Because believing something is easy, whereas not believing is more difficult.
(d) Because believing makes it easier to get along with others in the social-contract model of society.

5. What does Burke note about youth, as related to taste?
(a) That although judgments may not be sound, taste is excellent.
(b) That youth is the province of true wisdom.
(c) That sensory pleasure is great while judgment is inaccurate.
(d) That innocence does not equal ignorance.

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

7. How do sublime buildings look, according to Burke?
(a) Light and airy.
(b) Heavily built.
(c) Dark and gloomy.
(d) Architecturally balanced.

8. What is Burke's argument that infinity exists in pleasing objects?
(a) Pleasantness is a feeling that goes on forever within our minds.
(b) The only truly pleasing object is the night sky, which is truly infinite.
(c) Infinity itself is a pleasant concept, so an infinite object must be pleasant.
(d) Humans are pleased by the unlimited potential of these objects.

9. How does Burke define solitude?
(a) As a welcome release.
(b) As a necessary evil.
(c) As a pleasurable enjoyment.
(d) As a positive pain.

10. What does Burke hope will be the result of his "A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful"?
(a) Readers will learn to control their passions when in specific social settings.
(b) Readers will be well-versed in the scientific method.
(c) Readers will apply principles of taste and passion to the otherwise severe sciences.
(d) Readers will leave the sciences behind in favor of imagination and passion.

11. Burke opines that buildings that are great only in dimension are:
(a) The epitome of sublimity in architecture.
(b) Too simple and common to be sublime.
(c) Paragons of human imagination.
(d) Only deceptively large.

12. What, according to Burke, is the first and most simple emotion of the human mind?
(a) Hunger, or longing.
(b) Curiosity, or novelty.
(c) Indifference, or lassitude.
(d) Fear, or terror.

13. How does Burke define sympathy?
(a) As a painful realization, and reasoned acceptance, of one's humanity .
(b) As a sort of emotional substitution between people or through art.
(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.

14. Which idea is more effective over the other in affecting the imagination, according to Burke?
(a) Shock value, rather than predictability.
(b) Originality, rather than imitation.
(c) Refinement, rather than coarseness.
(d) Obscurity, rather than clarity.

15. What examples does Burke use to prove that people agree upon sensory observations?
(a) Sudden, loud sounds as opposed to quiet, soft sounds.
(b) The tastes of sweet, bitter, and sour.
(c) Feelings of sharp or soft.
(d) The pleasantness or unpleasantness of certain thoughts.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which two ideas does Burke often find confused with one another?

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

3. What kinds of sounds does Burke say can be sublime?

4. What literary example does Burke give as representative of magnificence?

5. What is the state between pleasure and pain, according to Burke?

(see the answer keys)

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