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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How does Aristotle differentiate poetry from prose?
(a) They are the same.
(b) Poetry uses language alone.
(c) Prose uses pictures and music.
(d) Poetry uses rhythm in the form of meter.

2. In what three ways does Aristotle differentiate various art forms from one another?
(a) Era, objects, and manner of imitation.
(b) By the medium, objects, and manner of imitation.
(c) Manner of imitation, artist, and era.
(d) According to the artist, era, and artistic effort.

3. What does Aristotle call the individual episodes of a story with an episodic plot?
(a) Interesting.
(b) Dependent stories.
(c) Funny.
(d) Isolated stories.

4. Into what two types does Aristotle divide actions?
(a) Good and bad.
(b) Happy and sad.
(c) Congruent and incongruent.
(d) Simple and complex.

5. The plot, as Aristotle explains, should be unified in such a way that each part should be what?
(a) Necessary to the whole.
(b) Trivial.
(c) Necessary to other parts, but not to the whole.
(d) Equivalent.

6. In the context of poetry, Aristotle explains that rhythm is used in the form of a what?
(a) Meter.
(b) Harmony.
(c) Specific beat.
(d) Mysterious undertone.

7. What reason does Aristotle give for Homer excluding many things that Odysseus does on his voyage home in the "Odyssey"?
(a) Aristotle says that Homer excludes things because they do not relate well to the overall plot that is being constructed.
(b) Nothing is excluded.
(c) Aristotle explains that Homer prefers to keep the reader guessing.
(d) Aristotle says that Odysseus does some embarrassing things that are better left unsaid.

8. What men does Aristotle consider to be "lower" types?
(a) Men who are poor and unhealthy.
(b) Single men.
(c) Men who are defective in some way, but not altogether evil or malicious towards others.
(d) Unemployed men.

9. How does Aristotle compare the medium of poetry and prose?
(a) Both use the same medium.
(b) Both use the same medium and meter.
(c) Both use the same medium and rhythm.
(d) It is nothing like prose.

10. According to Aristotle, how does tragedy achieve the emotion it inspires?
(a) Irony.
(b) Contradiction.
(c) Deceit.
(d) Using the element of surprise.

11. Men are drawn to write poetry for several reasons. Which of the following is NOT one of the reasons Aristotle provides?
(a) Man enjoys learning.
(b) There is a natural attraction to rhythm and harmony.
(c) Man is naturally attracted to imitation.
(d) Man is naturally attracted to beauty.

12. In how many ways does Aristotle say the method of imitation can differ?
(a) Countless.
(b) Four.
(c) Ten.
(d) Two.

13. Aristotle teaches that the beginning of a well-written tragedy starts at what point?
(a) In the middle and uses the method of flashback to tell what preceded.
(b) Where the narrative has no dependence upon events that happened prior to it.
(c) Where the narrative has dependence upon events that happen prior to it.
(d) With the end and uses the method of flashback to tell the rest.

14. Per Aristotle, the unity of plot is what to the unity of a character's actions?
(a) Equivalent.
(b) Influential, but not important.
(c) Not equivalent, but often closely related.
(d) Irrelevant.

15. What is history according to Aristotle?
(a) Lies.
(b) Rumors promoted as truth.
(c) Concerned simply with facts.
(d) Accounts that may or may not have happened.

Short Answer Questions

1. Aristotle defines poetic work as what?

2. What does Aristotle identify as the most essential element of tragedy?

3. What does Aristotle consider to be secondary to the most essential element of tragedy?

4. Aristotle explains that the medium specific to poetry is one that uses what?

5. When a poet simply straightforwardly describes the events as they happen, what method does Aristotle say the poet is using?

(see the answer keys)

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