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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. Which principle fits the image of a long, bare wall, according to Burke?

2. Which example does Burke use to support his argument regarding the nature of darkness?

3. What example does Burke use in his argument that perfection is not the cause of beauty?

4. What is NOT a property of the beautiful in music?

5. To which human faculty does Burke opine proportion belongs?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the body react physically to emotions of love, per Burke's observations?

2. How can pain be a cause of delight, in everyday life and in effecting the sublime?

3. What types of sounds, smells, and tastes can be considered beautiful, according to Burke?

4. What are the physical effects of fear and pain, and what is the difference between fear and pain, as observed by Burke?

5. In his discussion of proportionality among human figures, what censure does Burke lay upon advocates proportion-as-beauty?

6. What is the "real" cause of beauty, according to Burke?

7. How does Burke define proportion, and under which human faculty does it fall?

8. What does Burke assert affects the mind besides natural causes, and how does this thing relate to natural causes?

9. Summarize the difference between Locke's idea of the nature of darkness and Burke's idea of the nature of darkness.

10. How does Burke define ugliness, and how does Burke relate ugliness to beauty?

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

What is unique about the historical figure of Campanella, as related by Burke? To what effect does Burke employ the example of Campanella? How does Burke's relation of his own experiences reinforce this example? What is the significance of Campanella's story to our understanding of the connection between mind and body? Have you ever encountered this phenomenon yourself, and if so, does it seem to be true? What implications or significance (social, spiritual, or otherwise) do Campanella's abilities have?

Essay Topic 3

Carefully analyze Part III, sections VI, IX, and XV, looking for passages which you think are particularly important in demonstrating ways in which Burke characterizes women. Pay close attention to Burke's word choice, imagery, use of metaphor or other figurative speech, and his general tone. How does he use women to demonstrate that perfection is not the cause of beauty? How does Burke use women as examples to demonstrate some of the aspects of beauty? What gender distinctions does Burke make between men and women, and do these distinctions seem to move beyond merely the realm of the beautiful? What parts of the female body, and what characteristics of femininity, does Burke focus on? What portions of the body or characteristics of femininity does Burke neglect?

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