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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Over time, Coleman Barks' feelings about the messages in Rumi's poetry have what?
(a) Remained the same.
(b) Grown in contempt.
(c) Changed.
(d) Grown in confusion.

2. At times, God appears in Rumi's poems as a presence and at other times God is compared to:
(a) The Friend.
(b) The Professor.
(c) The Judge.
(d) The Tempter.

3. Before responding to the king's command in a poem in Book 1, Chapter 3, what does Ayaz do?
(a) Consults with the King's daughter.
(b) Prays to God for guidance.
(c) Reads at least forty books to learn how others handled the situation.
(d) Notices how at least thirty other men respond to the command.

4. Are Rumi's friends mentioned directly in his poems?
(a) No, in none of them.
(b) Yes, in all of them.
(c) Only in some.
(d) It is impossible to tell.

5. In the poem in Book 1, Chapter 2, where several men fall in love with the same woman, her physical beauty is really a representation of what?
(a) The passage of time.
(b) False hope.
(c) Spiritual beauty.
(d) The illusion of happiness.

6. In the end, what does the character Ayaz do in a poem in Book 1, Chapter 3?
(a) Refuses to obey the King.
(b) Hides in fear.
(c) Obeys the King.
(d) Runs away.

7. The purpose of Coleman Barks' preambles to Rumi's poems is to:
(a) Expand upon Barks' discomfort with each.
(b) Add a new twist to the message of each poem.
(c) Get the reader to come up with his or her own judgments.
(d) Help the reader interpret each poem.

8. Many of Rumi's poems reveal that life is not two-dimensional; on the contrary, it is very:
(a) Flat.
(b) Complex.
(c) Unfair.
(d) Boring.

9. Rumi uses the metaphor of a string between two animals to represent what?
(a) Confusion.
(b) Selective hearing.
(c) Secret connections.
(d) Imprisonment.

10. Rumi indicates that people who have blind faith are following this path through what?
(a) Greed.
(b) Animosity.
(c) Joy and willpower.
(d) Fear and compulsion.

11. What post did Rumi inherit?
(a) Treasurer.
(b) Scribe.
(c) Sheik.
(d) King.

12. According to a poem in Book 1, Chapter 2, what happens when you put pond water into a larger body of water?
(a) The larger body of water is enriched.
(b) The pond mourns its loss.
(c) The water molecules are still separate.
(d) The original water disappears.

13. When was the New Expanded Edition of this book published?
(a) 1995.
(b) 1965.
(c) 2000.
(d) 1980.

14. In some of his poems, Rumi refers to religious figures:
(a) From different faiths.
(b) From fiction.
(c) Only from his faith.
(d) Only that he knows personally.

15. What happens when the Caliph meets a beautiful, mysterious woman from the city his men have invaded, in a poem in Book 1, Chapter 2?
(a) One of his men attacks him.
(b) He regrets his actions.
(c) He falls in love with her.
(d) The woman attacks him.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the end, how does the King regard Ayaz in a poem in Book 1, Chapter 3?

2. When the man in a poem in Book 1, Chapter 2 accidentally soils himself, what does his host and friend do?

3. In the story of a camel and a mouse found in Book 1, Chapter 3, what does the camel do when the two reach a body of water?

4. When the animal soul that Rumi refers to is lacking, it leads to what?

5. When did Coleman Barks first become interested in Rumi's poetry?

(see the answer keys)

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