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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. Most of Rumi's poems presented in this book exhibit what form?
(a) Strict syllable counts.
(b) Formal repeating pattern.
(c) Rhyming verse.
(d) Light free verse.

3. In Rumi's string metaphor, the string connects two animals by their what?
(a) Ears.
(b) Ankles.
(c) Wrists.
(d) Necks.

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

5. The poem in Book 1, Chapter 3 about the lame goat teaches readers how to be good:
(a) Followers.
(b) Parents.
(c) Spouses.
(d) Leaders.

6. Saladin of Zarkub was what?
(a) Barber.
(b) Brick maker.
(c) Goldsmith.
(d) Farmer.

7. In the end, how does the King regard Ayaz in a poem in Book 1, Chapter 3?
(a) The King favors him.
(b) The King despises him.
(c) Ayaz is nothing but a fool.
(d) Nobody in the area is as smart as Ayaz.

8. Rumi speaks of two distinct types of intelligence. One is cultivated from books and the other is what?
(a) Reserved for the highest masters.
(b) Learned in the streets.
(c) Pre-existing within a person.
(d) Unattainable.

9. How many additional poems were translated and included in the New Expanded Edition?
(a) 92.
(b) 23.
(c) 81.
(d) 58.

10. Rumi's poems focus on what aspect of life?
(a) Life after death.
(b) Life's sorrows.
(c) Imaginary life.
(d) Inner life.

11. Rumi's short-story poems range from less than fifty lines to approximately what length?
(a) Ten thousand lines.
(b) Two thousand lines.
(c) A hundred twenty lines.
(d) Two hundred lines.

12. How many years did it take Coleman Barks to truly comprehend Shams Tabriz through Rumi's poetry?
(a) 6.
(b) 28.
(c) 37.
(d) 15.

13. When the animal soul that Rumi refers to is lacking, it leads to what?
(a) Wildness.
(b) Frailty.
(c) Order.
(d) Vigor.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

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

2. Relative to Rumi, who was Shams Tabriz?

3. Who is Hallaj?

4. In a poem in Book 1, Chapter 2, when a city is taken by siege, what happens to one of the invaders?

5. In many of Rumi's poems, not only in Book 1, Chapter 2, but throughout the whole book, his distinction between "me" and "you" is what?

(see the answer keys)

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