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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Burke use the word "delight?"

2. Why, as Burke argues, are humans "more inclined to belief than to incredulity?"

3. What does Burke warn his readers about in the Second Preface?

4. What example does Burke use to demonstrate that differing tastes stem from the same basic root?

5. Why are the cries of animals sublime, according to Burke?

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. What is "magnificence," according to Burke?

3. What does Burke argue about tastes that deviate from causes other than habit or use?

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

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

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

7. What is Burke's idea of "artificial infinity?"

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

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

10. What motivated Burke to write "A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful"?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Carefully analyze Part III, sections VI, IX, and XV, looking for passages which you think are particularly important in demonstrating ways in which Burke characterizes women. Pay close attention to Burke's word choice, imagery, use of metaphor or other figurative speech, and his general tone. How does he use women to demonstrate that perfection is not the cause of beauty? How does Burke use women as examples to demonstrate some of the aspects of beauty? What gender distinctions does Burke make between men and women, and do these distinctions seem to move beyond merely the realm of the beautiful? What parts of the female body, and what characteristics of femininity, does Burke focus on? What portions of the body or characteristics of femininity does Burke neglect?

Essay Topic 2

What, according to Burke, is sublime about religion? What tool do many religions make use of, to what ends? Carefully analyze the example Burke offers in Part II, Section V, beginning on page 61. Pay close attention to Burke's word choice, use of imagery, figurative language, selection of references or allusions, and the general tone with which he writes. How does this example reinforce Burke's assertions about religion and power? Are there any problems you see with this example, or any counter-arguments you can mak?

Essay Topic 3

Paraphrase Burke's definition of beauty and the distinction he makes between love and lust or desire. What relation does beauty have to the sublime? Through which faculties does one experience, understand, and interpret that which is beautiful? How are love and lust/desire different, and can they ever coexist?

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