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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Part II, Sections X - XXII.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Burke say is the primary passion ignited by the sublime?
(a) Anger.
(b) Astonishment.
(c) Joy.
(d) Confusion.

2. Why are the cries of animals sublime, according to Burke?
(a) Because they convey great ideas of pain and danger.
(b) Because they remind people of their humanity.
(c) Because they instill a feeling of sympathy in listeners.
(d) Because they reassure listeners of their own reasoning capacities.

3. Into which two classes does Burke group the passions of society?
(a) High- and low-society, based upon the class into which one is born.
(b) The societies of the educated and of the ignorant.
(c) General society and the society of the sexes.
(d) The liberal society and the conservative society.

4. What, according to Burke, is responsible for common deviations in natural taste?
(a) Confusion of the mind.
(b) A willingness to deceive others.
(c) Humankind's natural curiosity.
(d) Custom and habit.

5. What, according to Burke, is the first and most simple emotion of the human mind?
(a) Hunger, or longing.
(b) Indifference, or lassitude.
(c) Curiosity, or novelty.
(d) Fear, or terror.

Short Answer Questions

1. In which instance are feelings productive of the sublime?

2. What problem does Burke see with the contemporary notion of "taste?"

3. Burke's general definition for "obscurity" is:

4. What smells or tastes are, according to Burke, the only smells or tastes capable of producing grand sensations?

5. How does Burke define solitude?

(see the answer key)

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