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

2. What is NOT a property of the beautiful in music?
(a) Light, feathery notes.
(b) Slow, sonorous tones.
(c) Shrill, harsh sounds.
(d) Sweet, quiet sounds.

3. How is blackness different from darkness, according to Burke?
(a) Blackness is more of a confined idea.
(b) Darkness is less frightening than blackness.
(c) Darkness does not give one a sense of the sublime.
(d) Blackness is less imposing than darkness.

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

5. How does beauty act upon the human mind?
(a) Spiritually, through the soul.
(b) Mechanically, through the five senses.
(c) Logically, through consideration of utility.
(d) Imaginatively, through dreams and fantasies.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the sole difference Burke identifies between the passions mentioned in question 7?

2. Which is one of the examples Burke cites to demonstrate the sublime in poetry?

3. Which of the following does Burke assert about beauty?

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

5. How does Burke define "love?"

Short Essay Questions

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

2. In his discussion of proportionality among human figures, what censure does Burke lay upon advocates proportion-as-beauty?

3. According to Burke, how does the human eye work?

4. How does Burke use women as examples to demonstrate some of the aspects of beauty?

5. What, according to Burke, is the primary strength of poetry?

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

7. Why are small objects more suited to the beautiful and large objects more suitable to the sublime, according to Burke?

8. How can pain be a cause of delight, in everyday life and in effecting the sublime?

9. 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?

10. How does the body react physically to emotions of love, per Burke's observations?

(see the answer keys)

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