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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Bachelard, what term can describe the emergence of being through poetry and contemplation of poetic immensity?

2. Poets, states Bachelard, use words to bring together what two entities?

3. An inversion of perspective takes us where according to Bachelard?

4. How does Bachelard refer to words?

5. Why does a conchologist classify shells?

Short Essay Questions

1. For Milosz's cynical character, what is contained in the corners of the palace?

2. For Bachelard, what occurs when a person allows himself to pass a threshold of absurdity?

3. How does the age of a forest compare with the ages of fields and meadows according to Bachelard's theory put forth in "Intimate Immensity"?

4. According to Bachelard, why do old forests offer inner peace?

5. What is Robinet's theory of ontogenesis?

6. What does silence allow a person to do in the opinion of Bachelard?

7. How does Paris manage to make the tiny stature of Tom Thumb seem believable?

8. How do a psychologist and a phenomenologist differ when viewing a poetic image in Bachelard's opinion?

9. What effect does proximity to the horizon have on all things seen?

10. With regard to metaphoric levels of existence, Bachelard theorizes that poets differ from philosophers in what way?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

As mentioned in "Introduction," discuss the distinct viewpoints of The Poet and The Phenomenologist (capitalized to indicate their stature as characters of type in "The Poetics of Space"), as contrasted with Bachelard's own former identity, the scientist?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the significance of the struggle of Bosco's "La Redousse" against the menagerie of the hurricane. Why does Bachelin consider winter to be the oldest season reminding us of remote past? In "House and Universe," what does Bachelard state is the relationship between a house and the universe?

Essay Topic 3

What is Baudelaire's interpretation of the concept of "vast" as explained in "Intimate Immensity"? How and why does Bachelard disagree with Baudelaire's interpretation?

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