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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. What is unique about the nesting behavior of the cuckoo?

2. Who created the tiny character Tom Thumb?

3. According to the author, what sort of thought entails "either/or" with no middle ground?

4. After fish swim into the shell of the shellfish, what does the pea-crab do?

5. In many countries, insists the author, tiny-ness is the center of what?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the human intimacy associated with corners as described by the author in "Corners"?

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

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

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

5. Through poetry, in the mind of Bachelard, what does calm become?

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

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

8. In the opinion of Bachelard, how do dreams of the shell affect the mind? What Baltrusaitis notion illustrates this effect?

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

10. What does Bachelard propose, to give a door sacred character? What is sacred about doors?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Why is the ability to imagine a major power of human nature? How is an imagined poetic image different from the things surrounding us that can be seen?

Essay Topic 2

Describe the nest-making method proposed by MIchelet in "Nests," and also describe the shell-building technique proposed by Robinet in "Shells." Why is Bachelard interested in these fanciful theories of building in nature?

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?

(see the answer keys)

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