View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Aristotle consider to be secondary to the most essential element of tragedy?
(a) Development of character.
(b) Development of irony.
(c) Development of rhyme.
(d) Development of imitation.

2. What does Aristotle call the individual episodes of a story with an episodic plot?
(a) Isolated stories.
(b) Dependent stories.
(c) Funny.
(d) Interesting.

3. What type of action does Aristotle say occurs without "Recognition" or "Reversal of Situation"?
(a) Simple.
(b) Sad.
(c) Incongruent.
(d) Good.

4. What men does Aristotle consider to be "lower" types?
(a) Unemployed men.
(b) Men who are poor and unhealthy.
(c) Single men.
(d) Men who are defective in some way, but not altogether evil or malicious towards others.

5. Aristotle states that poetry depicts what?
(a) The future.
(b) Things that happen according to the "laws of probability and necessity."
(c) Things that happen based on fact and fiction.
(d) History.

6. Like any art, poetry is defined by Aristotle as what?
(a) A kind of imitation.
(b) A funny story.
(c) A theatrical play.
(d) A rhyme with more than four sentences.

7. What is history according to Aristotle?
(a) Accounts that may or may not have happened.
(b) Rumors promoted as truth.
(c) Lies.
(d) Concerned simply with facts.

8. What reason does Aristotle give for Homer excluding many things that Odysseus does on his voyage home in the "Odyssey"?
(a) Aristotle says that Odysseus does some embarrassing things that are better left unsaid.
(b) Aristotle explains that Homer prefers to keep the reader guessing.
(c) Nothing is excluded.
(d) Aristotle says that Homer excludes things because they do not relate well to the overall plot that is being constructed.

9. Aristotle asserts that men who find poetry very attractive find great pleasure in what?
(a) Eating.
(b) Learning.
(c) Sleeping.
(d) Cleaning.

10. What type of situation does Aristotle explain occurs more frequently in tragedy?
(a) A member of a family killing another member.
(b) The protagonist losing one of his or her five senses.
(c) The main character dying from illness.
(d) A child being abandoned.

11. What type of action does Aristotle say occurs with "Recognition" and/or "Reversal of Situation"?
(a) Congruent.
(b) Complex.
(c) Bad.
(d) Happy.

12. Per Aristotle, in which of the following ways does poetry NOT differ from history?
(a) Poetry depicts what happens according to the "laws of probability and necessity."
(b) Poetry tells the future, and history tells the past.
(c) Poetry is a higher pursuit than history.
(d) History is concerned simply with facts.

13. Concerning the "laws of probability and necessity," what statement below is NOT correct according to Aristotle's teachings in "Poetics"?
(a) The poet implies his understanding of how the world works.
(b) The poet portrays what events could possibly happen in the world.
(c) The poet implies his notion of justice.
(d) The poet implies his vision of how the world should be.

14. In an episodic plot, Aristotle explains that the individual episodes of the story bear what to one another?
(a) A lot of similarity.
(b) Irony.
(c) Little or no relation to one another.
(d) Opposition.

15. Men are drawn to write poetry for several reasons. Which of the following is NOT one of the reasons Aristotle provides?
(a) Man is naturally attracted to imitation.
(b) Man enjoys learning.
(c) Man is naturally attracted to beauty.
(d) There is a natural attraction to rhythm and harmony.

Short Answer Questions

1. In poetry, Aristotle says that in the "Odyssey" recognition comes about how??

2. In the context of poetry and according to Aristotle's teachings, why is man naturally attracted to imitation?

3. Aristotle believes that a poet can turn a complex plot into a simple one by doing what?

4. Aristotle teaches that the beginning of a well-written tragedy starts at what point?

5. According to Aristotle, why do good poets sometimes write stories using episodic plots?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 712 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample