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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When did Coleman Barks first become interested in Rumi's poetry?
(a) 1985.
(b) 1952.
(c) 1969.
(d) 1976.

2. When Coleman Barks first started reading Rumi's works, what types of words turned him away?
(a) Shame and guilt.
(b) Life and death.
(c) Love and hate.
(d) Heart and soul.

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

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

5. In the poem "Meadowsounds," Rumi devotes two lines to:
(a) Hallej.
(b) Ayaz.
(c) Husam.
(d) Shams.

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

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

8. 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.

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

10. The poem in Book 1, Chapter 2 about a man who accidentally soils himself includes lessons on which of the following?
(a) Self-control.
(b) Strength and power.
(c) Release from shame.
(d) Illusions.

11. Rumi expresses himself in a way that is what?
(a) Emotionally integrated.
(b) Spiritually vague.
(c) Mentally challenging.
(d) Repulsively simple.

12. In the end, where does the Caliph of a poem in Book 1, Chapter 2 send the mysterious, beautiful woman from the city his men have invaded?
(a) Back to her family.
(b) To a monastery.
(c) To another city.
(d) Back to the captain.

13. What prominent themes are found in much of Rumi's work?
(a) Love and unity.
(b) Hate and separation.
(c) Marriage and divorce.
(d) Travel and loss.

14. 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?
(a) Vague.
(b) Clear.
(c) Humorous.
(d) Solid.

15. The poem "On Being A Lover" is written in what format?
(a) Recollection by an old man of his younger years.
(b) Question and answer session between a man and a woman.
(c) Song of lament by a woman who has lost her lover.
(d) Diary entry of a man who has lost his lover.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who were Rumi's three main friends who inspired much of his poetry?

2. Rumi uses the metaphor of a string between two animals to represent what?

3. In a poem in Book 1, Chapter 3 about Ayaz the courtier, what command does the king give?

4. In a poem entitled "Rough Metaphors," Rumi asserts that a lover's reverence is often sheltered in:

5. Rumi's short-story format found in some of his poems is characterized by:

(see the answer keys)

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