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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 was "The Art Eternal" according to Mencken?

2. Which historical figure did Mencken ridicule by stating he was known as a "plaster saint"?

3. What was Mencken's criticism for Lincoln's Gettysburg Address?

4. What part of Mencken's work is NOT included in the volume?

5. What organization did Mencken's father force him to join at age fourteen?

Short Essay Questions

1. How must men react to a woman's allure?

2. According to Mencken, why do so many people lie?

3. How did Charlie get craftsmen to work at the jail in "Recollections of Notable Cops"?

4. What was accomplished by Walt Whitman's "Democratic Vistas," according to Mencken?

5. According to Mencken, why would a Christian man not cheat on his wife, according to "The Libertine"?

6. What is the difference between men and women in regards to trust, according to "The Skeptic"?

7. In "A Blind Spot," why was Mencken impervious to the ills of democracy?

8. What was the chief problem of a Baltimore summer, according to Mencken in "The Baltimore of the Eighties"?

9. Why did Mencken criticize Woodrow Wilson?

10. What was Mencken's opinion about Henry Cabot Lodge?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Religion was the frequent target of Mencken's attacks, such as in "Quid Est Veritas?" and "Holy Writ."

A) Why is religion dangerous, according to Mencken? Cite specific examples in the texts.

B) Can religion be salvaged somehow, to Mencken's mind, or is religion universally bad?

C) Describe fundamentalism, and discuss how fundamentalism factors in to Mencken's religious views.

Essay Topic 2

Beauty and ugliness were topics of the articles "The Lure of Beauty" and "The Libido of the Ugly."

A) How does Mencken define beauty? How is beauty related to art criticism?

B) Is beauty objective or subjective? Cite examples in the text of how Mencken might answer this question.

C) How is beauty related to physical attraction?

Essay Topic 3

The nature of art, and especially of writing, is a subject that concerned Mencken.

A) What argument does Mencken make in "The Artist"? How is this argument related to Mencken's anti-war stance?

B) What argument does Mencken make in "The Author at Work"? How are we to reconcile his argument with the fact that, naturally, Mencken is himself a writer?

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