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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Where does Richardson say Emerson's interest in religion came from?
(a) His father.
(b) Mary Moody Emerson.
(c) His mother.
(d) His brothers.

2. What publication did Emerson call a "living leaping Logos"?
(a) Fuller's translation of Eckermann's "Conversations with Goethe."
(b) Hedge's manifesto.
(c) Alcott's "Conversations with Children about the Gospels."
(d) Nature.

3. How does Richardson characterize Emerson's household in 1835-1836?
(a) Shaken by crisis.
(b) Quiet with illness.
(c) Quiet with work.
(d) Bustling with ideas.

4. How does Richardson characterize Emerson's relationship with his brothers?
(a) Intimate.
(b) Competitive.
(c) Contentious.
(d) Distant.

5. How old was Emerson when he met Thoreau?
(a) 28.
(b) 39.
(c) 21.
(d) 35.

6. How are we introduced to Emerson in the Prologue?
(a) He is writing his first major work.
(b) He is traveling South to recover his health.
(c) He is opening his dead wife's casket.
(d) He is being celebrated as the poet of the people.

7. Who influenced Emerson during this turning point?
(a) Samson Reed.
(b) Edward Channing.
(c) Edward Everett.
(d) Mary Moody Emerson.

8. What does Richardson say was revealed by the publication of Nature?
(a) That new ideas of religion were coming from modern culture.
(b) That modern culture was confirming ancient religious knowledge.
(c) That American religion was pantheistic.
(d) That American religion was essentially capitalistic.

9. What did Emerson suffer in 1837?
(a) The loss of his wife.
(b) Economic troubles.
(c) The loss of his son.
(d) The death of his brother.

10. What practice did Emerson begin in college?
(a) Holding dinner parties for intellectuals.
(b) Sending money to his mother.
(c) Writing poetry.
(d) Keeping a journal.

11. What was Emerson's first printed work?
(a) Nature.
(b) A speech on Concord's bicentennial.
(c) The Divinity School Address.
(d) Essays.

12. How does Richardson characterize the development of Emerson's writing in 1834?
(a) He was finding his voice.
(b) He was escaping from the voices to which he had always listened.
(c) His poetry was developing.
(d) His lectures were discovering new territory.

13. How did Emerson's career change after he opened Ellen's casket?
(a) He devoted himself more than ever to his preaching.
(b) He published argumentative tracts questioning the reality of religious rituals.
(c) He was ordained.
(d) He left the church.

14. Who was Emerson reading at the time he fell in love with Lydia Jackson?
(a) Goethe.
(b) Hume.
(c) Fuller.
(d) Hegel.

15. How does Richardson characterize Emerson's perspective on approaching Europe?
(a) He abandoned his identity.
(b) He became a 'defensive American.'
(c) He became a free-floating individual without a country.
(d) He became a citizen of the world.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what author did Emerson find guidance during Ellen Tucker's death?

2. How does Richardson characterize Emerson's internal state in 1837?

3. What vision did Emerson have in the Jardin de Plantes in Paris?

4. What does Richardson say was the turning point in Emerson's life?

5. What does Richardson say his book illustrates in Emerson's life?

(see the answer keys)

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