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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which is one of the examples Burke cites to demonstrate the sublime in poetry?
(a) An elegy on the death of Milton.
(b) A love poem to Aphrodite.
(c) A description of Helen of Troy.
(d) A ballad about the battle of Culloden.

2. What statement summarizes the real effects of fitness, as described by Burke?
(a) Fitness is designed to incite introspection and excite people into socially-important action.
(b) The purpose of fitness is to describe the differences between the species of animals and plants.
(c) There can be nothing sublime without being fit or beautiful.
(d) God gave each thing a particular fitness to make us fully understand and marvel at the mysteries of the world.

3. What size of objects does Burke consider "beautiful?"
(a) Proportionate to the accepted standard.
(b) Moderate and common.
(c) Large and imposing.
(d) Small or diminutive.

4. Burke writes that "Beauty in distress is the most _________ kind of beauty."
(a) Disgusting.
(b) Confusing.
(c) Pleasurable.
(d) Affecting.

5. Why, according to Burke, is proportion not the cause of beauty in animals?
(a) Because our idea of proportion is so clear and obvious as to preclude the beautiful.
(b) Because beauty relies upon the relative length, width, and height of the object.
(c) Because all species of animals have different proportions, yet we as a society deem them beautiful.
(d) Because proportion and geometry can only be discussed in reference to architecture.

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

7. What has Burke personally observed about human beauty?
(a) That both beautiful and ugly people might be considered proportionate.
(b) That proportionality does indeed coincide with beauty.
(c) That beauty is only skin-deep.
(d) That only a minority of people are not beautiful.

8. Which principle fits the image of a long, bare wall, according to Burke?
(a) Proportion.
(b) Infinity.
(c) Vastness.
(d) Perspective.

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

10. How does the view of the object in question 8 become sublime by affecting the mind?
(a) By increasing the intensity of the image through succession.
(b) By gradually diminishing in intensity until it is almost not visible.
(c) By presenting the viewer with a skewed image of reality.
(d) By overwhelming the judgment and the imagination.

11. What does Burke envision would be the result of fitness trumping beauty in the human species?
(a) Men would be considered more beautiful than women.
(b) All people would be healthy, regardless of their looks.
(c) Individuals would find it difficult to get married and begin families.
(d) The general intelligence quotient would rise dramatically.

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

13. According to Burke, who is most capable of beauty?
(a) Rustic peasants.
(b) Elegant aristocrats.
(c) The female sex.
(d) The male sex.

14. Which does Burke's definition of "grace" include?
(a) Posture and motion.
(b) Conversation and debate.
(c) Painting and drawing.
(d) Speaking foreign languages.

15. Which two effects are often combined and alternated under the passions mentioned in question 7?
(a) Contentment and consternation.
(b) Strength and weakness.
(c) Desire and frigidity.
(d) Loathing and lust.

Short Answer Questions

1. Burke contrasts smoothness to __________ in his discussion of beauty.

2. Where, besides in humans, has Burke observed the effects of the passions mentioned in question 133?

3. What type of poetry operates by imitation?

4. What causes hearing in humans, according to Burke?

5. How does Burke define "beauty?"

(see the answer keys)

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