View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Leeming say happened when the Greek soldiers came out of the wooden horse and captured Troy?

2. When was the story of Gilgamesh likely composed?

3. What does Leeming say places and objects represent in myths?

4. How does Leeming define the hero?

5. What does Leeming say each place or object has in myth?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Leeming describe the myth of Oedipus?

2. What significance does Leeming attribute to rocks in myth?

3. How does Leeming say describe the most important aspect of the hero's myth?

4. What significance does Leeming attribute to trees in myth?

5. How does Leeming define the term monomyth?

6. How does Leeming describe the myth of Moses?

7. What significance does Leeming attribute to the labyrinth in myth?

8. How does Leeming describe the fall of Troy?

9. Where does Leeming see images of the Great Mother in cathedrals?

10. What does Leeming say about the importance of death and resurrection in hero stories?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the role of the hero in contemporary culture? Are celebrities heroes, and if so, what traits distinguish them as heroes? Make an argument for the heroic status of a contemporary figure, using the definitions Leeming uses in The World of Myth.

Essay Topic 2

Read another book about mythology--even something short, like Karen Armstrong's "A Short History of Myth"--and compare and contrast Leeming's approach to myth to another author's. What are Leeming's main preoccupations, and what are his methods? What is his style for expressing them? What does he tend to include? What does he omit? How can you characterize Leeming's intellectual personality?

Essay Topic 3

Where is Leeming most convincing and most effective as an author describing his topic? Where were you most drawn into the book and its topics, and what accounts for the interesting nature of the work?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 914 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample