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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Baudelaire used the term "vast" to describe what?
(a) Intimate meaning, including synthesis, perspective, unity and movement.
(b) The infinity of intimate space.
(c) The language of poets.
(d) The variety of words and meanings.

2. What does a phenomenologist look for?
(a) Poetic inspiration.
(b) Observable facts or events.
(c) Sexually-obsessed behavior.
(d) New theories.

3. Why is a door ajar a quandary according to the author's perspective?
(a) Poetic imagery is inadequate to determine its meaning.
(b) It is neither open nor closed.
(c) A person must decide whether to open or close the door.
(d) It offers no protection, no matter how solidly built.

4. What image does Bachelard propose to give a door sacred character?
(a) A mythical threshold god.
(b) Elaborate locks and keys.
(c) Opaque peep holes.
(d) An elaborate molding.

5. Why should the adjective "ancestral" not be used in a study of poetic phenomenology, according to Bachelard?
(a) Poetic phenomenology is always of the future.
(b) It creates a confusion of familial memories.
(c) It casts a pall of oldness and staleness over a poetic image.
(d) It is too easily used and explains nothing.

6. In what way for Bachelard do fantasy images have some objectivity?
(a) From a sense of past lives.
(b) From a degree of shared phenomenological similarity.
(c) From a belief in supernatural presences.
(d) From a sense of shared experience.

7. What is contained within Milosz's corners?
(a) Memories of childhood.
(b) Objects remembered by a dreamer in solitude.
(c) Cobwebs.
(d) Poetic images.

8. Bachelard prefers to use the term "vast" to describe what?
(a) The variety of words and meanings.
(b) The infinity of intimate space.
(c) Intimate meaning, including synthesis, perspective, unity and movement.
(d) The language of poets.

9. Why does a conchologist classify shells?
(a) To discover diversity.
(b) To find the origin of creation.
(c) To determine the age of the planet.
(d) To better understand mollusks.

10. What are two opposing truths introduced by Bachelard in "Corners" regarding corners?
(a) One can be at peace in a corner or can be cornered there.
(b) Corners can be real or imaginary.
(c) Corners can be clean or neglected.
(d) Corners can be solid or weak.

11. Ammonite shells spiral around what sort of axis?
(a) Logarithmic.
(b) Circular.
(c) Rectangular.
(d) Geometric.

12. Who lives in the new that guides the phenomenologist in Bachelard's opinion?
(a) The psychologist.
(b) The psychoanalyst.
(c) The scientist.
(d) The poet.

13. Contrary to the intellectual philosopher, states Bachelard, a poet may use words in what way?
(a) For sensitivity rather than precision.
(b) For rhythm and rhyme, rather than meaning.
(c) To describe the origins of man.
(d) To create false illusions.

14. For the Ancients, the shell is a symbol of what?
(a) The hut.
(b) The human body that encases the soul like an envelope.
(c) The creation of earth.
(d) The origin of man.

15. What is the paradox of an old forest, as explained by the author?
(a) A forest seems real and concrete yet fantastic.
(b) It seems infinite within its own boundaries.
(c) A forest is old but contains new saplings.
(d) A forest is frightening yet offers a sense of security.

Short Answer Questions

1. Details and insignificant features, such as the curve of a molding, may inspire what, according to Bachelard?

2. Which French scholar envisioned a fortress town based on the spiral design of shells?

3. In the work of Milosz, how did he indicate that corners are not always safe?

4. The cynical character created by the poet Milosz reminisces where?

5. What does every corner or angle in a house symbolize for Bachelard?

(see the answer keys)

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