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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What example does Burke cite in his discussion of how people may convey ideas of things which they do not know?
(a) A deaf musician.
(b) A sickly child.
(c) A crippled politician.
(d) A blind poet.

2. Burke contrasts smoothness to __________ in his discussion of beauty.
(a) Opacity.
(b) Roughness.
(c) Softness.
(d) Stickiness.

3. How does Burke define "love?"
(a) As the sexual attraction between sexes.
(b) As the natural state of human relationships with one another.
(c) As the boldest and most striking of all the passions.
(d) As the satisfaction the mind feels upon contemplating the beautiful.

4. Which kinds of words do not produce mental images, according to Burke?
(a) Foreign words.
(b) Simple abstract words.
(c) Aggregate words.
(d) Compounded abstract words.

5. To which scientific finding does Burke compare his study of the beautiful and sublime?
(a) Albertus Magnus' alchemical experiments.
(b) Galileo's proof of a heliocentric Earth.
(c) Newton's theory of gravity.
(d) Tycho Brahe's astronomical observations.

6. Which example does Burke use to support his argument regarding the nature of darkness?
(a) A solar eclipse that frightened townsfolk.
(b) A dim, murky forest fraught with danger.
(c) A person who grew afraid of his own shadow.
(d) A blind boy who regains his sight.

7. What example does Burke use in his argument that perfection is not the cause of beauty?
(a) Flowers whose wayward stalks or blooms are expressions of beauty.
(b) A scenic mountain view that, though broken by heavy clouds, is beautiful.
(c) Women whose imperfections and weaknesses make them beautiful.
(d) The industrious bustle of a market town or busy port can be called beautiful.

8. To what is deformity opposed, according to Burke?
(a) To the common or complete form.
(b) To the ideal of beauty.
(c) To the magnificence of the sublime.
(d) To perfect proportionality.

9. How does Burke define "association?"
(a) As a group of words that defines another group of words.
(b) As a specific group of businessmen.
(c) As a somewhat friendly acquaintance.
(d) As a set of memories worn into the mind.

10. To which human faculty does Burke opine proportion belongs?
(a) To the senses.
(b) To the emotions.
(c) To the understanding.
(d) To the imagination.

11. To what does Burke tie his own opinion of darkness and the sublime?
(a) Judgment.
(b) Desire.
(c) Intellectualism.
(d) Self-preservation.

12. How should the eye move, in order to qualify as beautiful, according to Burke?
(a) Suddenly and jerkily.
(b) Upward and to the right.
(c) Slowly and languidly.
(d) Rapidly and avidly.

13. What, according to Burke, is the state of a man whose teeth are set and whose forehead is wrinkled?
(a) Great pain.
(b) Complete confusion.
(c) Utter delight.
(d) Terrible wrath.

14. What does NOT make certain objects or experiences affect us the way they do?
(a) Any strong memories regarding the thing.
(b) Any learning about the thing.
(c) Any natural power of the thing.
(d) Any associations we form around the thing.

15. What visual example does Burke FIRST offer in his explanation of succession and the sublime?
(a) A grove of trees.
(b) A field of grain.
(c) A large cathedral.
(d) A colonnade of pillars.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Burke define "blackness?"

2. What is Burke's argument about the relation of danger to the sublime?

3. What quality of mind does Burke find in women that he thinks is analogous to fragility?

4. How is blackness different from darkness, according to Burke?

5. How does this body part produce the sense of the sublime, according to Burke?

(see the answer keys)

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