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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. What is John Locke's theory concerning darkness?

2. Why is darkness shocking, according to Burke?

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

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

5. What does Burke envision would be the result of fitness trumping beauty in the human species?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is beautiful in feeling, according to Burke?

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

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

4. Briefly summarize the three classes of words that Burke identifies.

5. How does Burke define deformity?

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

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

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

9. What does Burke propose to study in Part IV? What caveat does he offer his readers?

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

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

How does Burke define proportion, and under which human faculty does it fall? Why, according to Burke, is proportion not the cause of beauty in vegetation and animals? What examples does Burke use to prove this point? In his discussion of proportionality among human figures, what censure does Burke lay upon advocates of proportion-as-beauty? What influence does the theme of nature vs. artifice have upon Burke's perceptions of proportion and beauty?

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