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

2. How does Burke define "blackness?"
(a) As "necessarily evil."
(b) As "partial darkness."
(c) As "increased darkness."
(d) As "potentially dangerous."

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

4. How does Burke define "gradual variation?"
(a) As the slight deviation of regular parts.
(b) As the general decline in beauty due to age.
(c) As the rapid changes of an avid mind.
(d) As the sudden movement of line or angle.

5. What causes hearing in humans, according to Burke?
(a) Alterations in the ether.
(b) Vibrations in the ear.
(c) Pulsations caused by physical movement.
(d) Waves floating through the air.

Short Answer Questions

1. What example does Burke use to illustrate his idea of gradual variation?

2. What, to Burke, is "great and amazing beyond conception?"

3. What body part's workings does Burke describe in detail?

4. Which kinds of words do not produce mental images, according to Burke?

5. Which principle fits the image of a long, bare wall, according to Burke?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is unique about the historical figure of Campanella, as related by Burke?

2. What two examples does Burke use to illustrate the sublimity of succession in visual objects? Upon which principles does Burke assert these two examples operate?

3. How does Burke define deformity?

4. What is the "real" cause of beauty, according to Burke?

5. To what effect does Burke use the example of Campanella?

6. What example does Burke use to demonstrate that perfection is not the cause of beauty?

7. What types of sounds, smells, and tastes can be considered beautiful, according to Burke?

8. Summarize the difference between Locke's idea of the nature of darkness and Burke's idea of the nature of darkness.

9. What does Burke identify as the three effects of words?

10. Paraphrase Burke's definition of beauty and the distinction he makes between love and lust or desire.

(see the answer keys)

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