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

2. What will be Burke's focus in "A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful"?

3. What kind of colors are unfit to produce what Burke terms "grand images?"

4. In what year was "A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful" first published?

5. Why are the cries of animals sublime, according to Burke?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the main problem with creating prescribed definitions, especially of taste, according to Burke?

2. What is astonishment, according to Burke, and why is it important?

3. What is the significance of the imagination, to Burke?

4. What does Burke argue about tastes that deviate from causes other than habit or use?

5. What is the cause of a wrong taste, and what are examples of it?

6. What is the significance of the senses to the faculty of taste, according to Burke?

7. What motivated Burke to write "A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful"?

8. How does Burke describe sympathy?

9. Briefly describe the significance of human judgment to the faculty of taste.

10. Describe Burke's definition of the sublime.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What are the limitations of the use of first-person perspective? What are the advantages to it? Do you feel that Burke uses any strategies to combat the limitations of this perspective, and if so, what does he do? What specific language does he employ, and with what results? How do the two Prefaces employ first-person perspective? What tone does Burke adopt in them, and do you think his tone is at all a product of the written point of view? Can you categorize the Prefaces as ultimately self-serving, useful, argumentative, informative to the state of his mind, etc., or is doing so problematic in and of itself? How do these instances of first-person perspective affect your reaction to the text? For example, do you feel more like a real person is speaking to you, rather than like you're being lecture?

Essay Topic 2

Describe Burke's definition of the sublime. What passions or sensations fuel it? What is the significance of pain and pleasure to the sublime? Describe Burke's ideas of the passions belonging to self-preservation and the passions belonging to society. What are the key differences between them? Give at least three examples of things which would be considered sublime, and explain the relevance of these examples.

Essay Topic 3

Define obscurity and clearness, or clarity, as Burke uses them. What significance do obscurity and clearness have to the sublime? How does the imagination interact with obscurity and with clarity? Which passions does Burke associate with obscurity, and which with clarity? Define the aspects of dimensionality Burke uses (vastness, infinity, and magnitude). How do these relate to the sublime? What qualities of "magnificence" are sublime? Use examples like what Burke uses to support your points.

(see the answer keys)

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