View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What, according to Burke, must be utilized regularly lest it/they fall into disrepair?

2. What is one of the primary causes of words influencing the passions?

3. What does Burke expressly wish to discuss in this part of "A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful"?

4. How, according to Burke, can we be affected by things we as individuals never experienced?

5. What is Burke's argument about the relation of danger to the sublime?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Burke assert affects the mind besides natural causes, and how does this thing relate to natural causes?

2. Why, according to Burke, is proportion not the cause of beauty in vegetation and animals?

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

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

5. What does Burke mean by "fitness," and why is fitness not, according to him, the cause of beauty?

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

7. 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?

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

9. How does Burke define ugliness, and how does Burke relate ugliness to beauty?

10. According to Burke, why is the taste of sweetness pleasant, and how does he decide this?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the Introduction on Taste, Burke qualifies his purpose of defining the origins of the sublime and the beautiful. What, according to Burke, is the main problem with creating prescribed definitions, especially taste? What do definitions essentially do, and in what ways can they limit rather than enlighten? Considering Burke's mission regarding and methods used in the "A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful," do you find anything ambiguous or undermining about Burke's reservations on definitions? Do you find inconsistencies here that make you think differently about reading "A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful"?

Essay Topic 2

What is unique about the historical figure of Campanella, as related by Burke? To what effect does Burke employ the example of Campanella? How does Burke's relation of his own experiences reinforce this example? What is the significance of Campanella's story to our understanding of the connection between mind and body? Have you ever encountered this phenomenon yourself, and if so, does it seem to be true? What implications or significance (social, spiritual, or otherwise) do Campanella's abilities have?

Essay Topic 3

What are the limitations of the use of first-person perspective? What are the advantages to it? Do you feel that Burke uses any strategies to combat the limitations of this perspective, and if so, what does he do? What specific language does he employ, and with what results? How do the two Prefaces employ first-person perspective? What tone does Burke adopt in them, and do you think his tone is at all a product of the written point of view? Can you categorize the Prefaces as ultimately self-serving, useful, argumentative, informative to the state of his mind, etc., or is doing so problematic in and of itself? How do these instances of first-person perspective affect your reaction to the text? For example, do you feel more like a real person is speaking to you, rather than like you're being lecture?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,284 words (approx. 5 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample