Dr. Prinsky
Humn. 2002: World Humanities II
Test on Matsuo Basho’s The Narrow Road of the Interior (McCullough & Carter trans.)
1. Matsuo Basho’s The Narrow Road of the Interior was published in: (a) the sixteenth century CE (b) seventeenth century CE (c) eighteenth century CE (d) nineteenth century CE
2. In Asian culture, the surname (Matsuo) is given first, then the forename; what was the actual forename of this author -- rather than Basho (all are forenames of important Japanese authors): (a) Ihara (b) Junichoro (c) Munefusa (d) Takiji (e) Yasunari
3. According to the Robert Danly NAWME introduction, Basho’s pen name symbolizes all the following except which one: (a) lonely wayfaring (b) consecration to poetry (c) delicate sensibility (d) fondness for travel
4. According to Danly, Basho sought out Nature in his travels, including The Narrow Road, because it represented for him all the following except which one: (a) something poetic (b) beauty (c) truth (d) scientific advancement
5. According to Danly, Basho’s The Narrow Road is the prose equivalent of what genre of poetry: (a) historical epic (b) allegorical romance (c) linked sequence (d) individual haiku
6. According to Danly, Basho’s The Narrow Road emphasizes: (a) history (b) science (c) politics (d) romance
7. The emphasis referred to in the immediately preceding question naturally leads to an emphasis on which figure of speech, which is indeed recurrent in the work: (a) simile (b) allusion (c) hyperbole (d) periphrasis (e) oxymoron
8. More often than not, a haiku is used at what point in a paragraph or an episode in the work: (a) beginning (b) middle (c) end (d) beginning and middle
9. The function of a haiku or literature, as suggested by paragraphs 2 (“I myself”), 20 (“The site”), and 21 (“Eager to”) could be all of the following except which one: (a) traveler’s goodbye note (b) court document (c) physical interaction with the landscape (d) physical interaction with a monument
10. The function of a haiku or literature, as suggested by paragraphs 22 (“From Kurobane”), 39 (“Kyohaku had”), and 53 (“We returned”) could be all of the following except which one: (a) historical analysis (b) autographed souvenir (c) parting gift from an acquaintance (d) friends’ good-luck notes for someone’s trip
11. As suggested by the footnotes to H-4 (“Black hair”) and H-6 (“Kasane must”), a repeated figure of speech in the haikus is: (a) antonomasia (b) oxymoron (c) pun (d) simile
12. The figure of speech referred to in the immediately preceding question suggests Basho’s -- and the Japanese -- sense of what aspects of Nature and of language: (a) hierarchy (b) complexity (c) interconnection with humanity (d) richness
13. The motif to be found in a particular action of Basho, repeated in pars. 4 (“We disembarked”), 33 (“We crossed”), 45 (“Although we”), and 58 (“Sitting on”) -- often at the end of the paragraph -- suggests the importance to Basho and the Japanese of: (a) efficiency (b) feeling (c) intellect (d) stoicism
14. A connection with the visual arts is Basho’s repeated emphasis, in his descriptions, on which of the following: (a) color (b) light (c) line (d) shape (e) color and light
15. The people Basho encounters, as in one of the first men Basho and Sora meet (pars. 9-10; “On the Thirtieth, we”), as well as a farmer (pars. 14-15; “I knew someone”), suggest that human nature is basically: (a) good (b) mixture of good and bad (c) bad (d) indeterminate
16. Although the McCullough translation uses “sun” and “moon” in for the work’s opening sentence -- “The sun and the moon are eternal voyagers; the years that come and go are travelers too” (par. 1), paralleled by the Hamill translation (“The moon and sun are eternal travelers. Even the years wander on”), the other translations differ somewhat: “Months and days are the wayfarers of a hundred generations, the years, too, going and coming, are wanderers” [Barnhill]; “The months and days are the wayfarers of the centuries, and as yet another year comes round, it, too, turns traveler” [Miner]; “The months and days are wayfarers of a hundred generations, and the years that come and go are also travelers” [Sato]; “Days and months are travelers of eternity. So are the years that pass by” [Yuasa]. Since “sun” and “moon” mean “days” and “months,” respectively, the figure of speech in operation is: (a) hyperbole (b) (c) understatement (d) metonymy
17. The literal translation in McCullough and Hamill helps suggest the emphasis in the haiku on: (a) epic simile (b) concrete imagery (c) philosophical abstraction (d) scientific accuracy
18. Another figure of speech present in the opening words referred to in the immediately preceding question is: (a) epistrophe (b) litotes (c) personification (d) simile
19. The figure of speech referred to in the immediately preceding question helps convey an interconnection between: (a) civilization and technology (b) humanity and nature (c) social classes (d) government and citizen
20. The figure of speech used in H-2 (“Departing springtime”; = the second of the work’s sixty-six haikus or short poems) besides personification is: (a) metaphor (b) simile (c) understatement (d) hyperbole
21. The figure of speech referred to in the immediately preceding question helps convey about Basho’s departure all the following except which one: (a) economics (b) sorrow (c) humor (d) union of Nature’s parts
22. The equipment Basho details having taken for the trip (par. 7) suggests that among other purposes, one of the journey’s reasons is: (a) economic (b) artistic (c) political (d) scientific
23. The sites referred to in pars. 8 (“We went to pay”), 11 (“On the First”), and several other comparable paragraphs, impart what element in the work: (a) economic (b) political (c) religious (d) scientific
24. Pars. 12, 13, 21, and 26 all have descriptions by Basho that could be described as: (a) political (b) musical (c) scientific (d) painterly
25. The haiku H-4 (“Black hair”), attached to par. 12 (“Kurokamiyama was”), through its figurative language equates all of the following with each other, except which one: (a) plant life (b) mountain’s appearance (c) human being (d) Sora’s adoption of a monk’s appearance
26. The reference to Shohachiman (par. 18), as well as to Ko-no-hana-sakuya-hime (par. 8), the Road Goddess (par. 37), and the like, connects with which belief system in Japan up to Basho’s time: (a) Zen Buddhism (b) indigenous mythology (c) Taoism (or Daoism) (d) Confucianism
27. Where Butcho is said to have inscribed a poem – the physical medium of the poem (par. 20) – helps convey the idea in The Narrow Road of: (a) discarding political history (b) advancing in technology (c) uniting art and nature (d) protesting scorn of poets
28. Pars. 22, 32, and 52 represent a motif associated with: (a) weeds (b) bricks (c) planks (d) rocks
29. The particular thing in the motif referred to in the immediately preceding question has, along with the motif, associations with all the following themes, except which one: (a) Nature (b) architecture (c) history (d) religion
30. The haiku (H-13) with which Basho begins what he describes as a second or new start of the journey, after crossing the Shirakawa Barrier (par. 28), suggests the incorporation in this initiation of all the following except which one: (a) painting (b) music (c) poetry (d) Nature
31. When Basho remarks “at long last, the short night ended” (par. 36), he uses the combined figures of speech: (a) metaphor and understatement (b) allusion and simile (c) paradox and irony (d) antonomasia and periphrasis
32. The figures of speech used by Basho in the sentence referred to in the immediately preceding question help to express about the journey its: (a) religious overtones (b) harsh conditions (c) political consequences (d) cheerful motivations
33. Pars. 38, 45, 49, and 57 are linked by the motif of the contrast between: (a) science and religion (b) astronomy and astrology (c) politics and morality (d) transitoriness and permanence
34. What Basho experiences at night in Shiogama (par. 47, “The perpetual overcast”) suggests the combination of all of the following except which one: (a) literature (b) worship (c) singing (d) musical instruments (e) history
35. The most impressive aspects of what Basho views at Matsushima (par. 51; “Trite though”) are all the following except which one: (a) variety (b) drama (c) architecture (d) amplitude (e) artistry
36. The most repeated figure of speech in the passage referred to in the immediately preceding question is: (a) understatement (b) pun (c) synecdoche (d) personification
37. The figure of speech referred to in the immediately preceding question helps convey the idea of: (a) harmony between upper and lower classes (b) animate and inanimate fitting into a divine plan (c) differentiation between royalty and commoner (d) live persons communicating with dead ancestors
38. H-31 (“Ah, tranquility”; attached to par. 63) and H-53 (“A heartrending”; attached to par. 90) share the symbolism of the: (a) cricket (b) cherry blossom (c) crane (d) creek
39. In the two haikus referred to in the immediately preceding question, one meaning of the symbol referred to is the power of: (a) romantic love (b) spiritual rites (c) political force (d) external nature (e) scientific technology
40. In pars. 70 (“Hagurosan . . . “) and 72 (“Near a valley . . . “), the emphasis is on, respectively: (a) male and female (b) religion and decorative arts (c) romantic love and society (d) science and technology (e) politics and rulers
41. One motif that occurs in par. 81 (“After several days . . . “) and several other paragraphs of The Narrow Road is reference to: (a) birds (b) buildings (c) barriers (d) bells
42. The motif referred to in the immediately preceding question points to the importance in Japanese history of: (a) ornithological science (b) new developments in architecture (c) separate feudal territories (d) secular as well as religious music
43. What Basho hears near Etchu Province (par. 82, “That night I drew up”) could be designated as containing: (a) comic slapstick (b) ironic contrast (c) mawkish sentimentality (d) horrific brutality
44. The religion incorporated in pars. 82-83, looping back to par. 9 (“On the thirtieth, we lodged”) and several other paragraphs, is: (a) Buddhism (b) Confucianism (c) Shintoism (d) Taoism (or Daoism)
45. A casual reference in par. 106 (“I hurried off . . . “) suggests the difficulty of excursions because of the typical: (a) robe (b) footwear (c) hat (d) sword (e) cookware
46. Par. 112 (“Despite my . . . “) suggests that for Basho, travel is: (a) achievement of philosophical wisdom (b) search for romantic love (c) quest for perfect home (d) a never-ending cycle