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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What set of animals does Burke use as examples of power and the sublime?
(a) Elephants, buffalo, and giraffes.
(b) Dogs, cats, and mice.
(c) Birds, fish, and reptiles.
(d) Oxen, bulls, and horses.

2. 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.

3. What is the state between pleasure and pain, according to Burke?
(a) Anger.
(b) Indifference.
(c) Joy.
(d) Confusion.

4. Why are the cries of animals sublime, according to Burke?
(a) Because they convey great ideas of pain and danger.
(b) Because they reassure listeners of their own reasoning capacities.
(c) Because they remind people of their humanity.
(d) Because they instill a feeling of sympathy in listeners.

5. What general quality does Burke assert about "taste?"
(a) It is the sole means of valuing an individual.
(b) It is the province of the refined upper-class.
(c) It is natural and common to all people.
(d) It is unnecessary for discussion about beauty.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which method of teaching does Burke think best?

2. Why is suddenness sublime, according to Burke?

3. Into which two classes does Burke group the passions of society?

4. What example does Burke give for a sublime sound?

5. What does Burke use as a common, but bad, example of infinity?

Short Essay Questions

1. What causes Burke to offer a second edition of "A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful"?

2. Summarize Burke's definition of pain and pleasure.

3. What is "magnificence," according to Burke?

4. What is the difference between taste and knowledge, according to Burke?

5. Why, according to Burke, are the principles of reason and taste the same in all humans?

6. What is the significance of the imagination, to Burke?

7. Describe the main difference between light and dark relative to the sublime.

8. What is the main problem with creating prescribed definitions, especially of taste, according to Burke?

9. What does Burke identify as the central tension between the imagination and the judgment?

10. Describe the passions belonging to society, as Burke introduces them.

(see the answer keys)

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