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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What was the title of the lecture series Emerson delivered in 1837?
(a) "The Uses of Great Men".
(b) "Self-Reliance".
(c) "Human Culture".
(d) "Refuse Great Models".

2. How did Emerson describe Ellen Tucker?
(a) Beautiful, with a vibrant spirit.
(b) Sensitive and religious.
(c) Strong-willed and supportive.
(d) Rhapsodic and angelic.

3. What did this turning point do for Emerson?
(a) It centered his attention on his own experience.
(b) It gave him the confidence to pursue his studies.
(c) It introduced him to people who could forward his career.
(d) It filled him with knowledge of the classics.

4. Why was Emerson's meeting with Carlyle a "white day in his years"?
(a) He and Carlyle discovered that they were related.
(b) He and Carlyle became fast friends.
(c) He and Carlyle discovered a deep and productive antagonism.
(d) He and Carlyle challenged each other to define a new philosophy for the modern age.

5. What was Emerson like as a student?
(a) Middling.
(b) Unsuccessful.
(c) Distinguished.
(d) Exceptional.

6. Where was Emerson going on Christmas Day, 1832?
(a) South Carolina.
(b) Europe.
(c) Boston.
(d) New York.

7. What troubled Emerson during his travels to the South?
(a) His religious faith.
(b) His engagement to Ellen Tucker.
(c) Slavery.
(d) His divinity studies.

8. What imagery filled Emerson's prose and poems in 1836?
(a) Illness and death.
(b) Health and insanity.
(c) Forging and birth.
(d) Travel and arrival.

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

10. What does Richardson say likely caused Emerson's eye problems?
(a) Tuberculosis.
(b) Overwork.
(c) Stress.
(d) Migraines.

11. What idea of Emerson's influenced Richardson's biography?
(a) That some men's lives define the extremes of human experience.
(b) That men can only be known through their historical context.
(c) That the lives of great mean can tell us about all men.
(d) That men are best described by the women in their lives.

12. How does Richardson characterize Emerson's second wife?
(a) Devout and lyrical but sometimes full of doubts.
(b) Wryly humorous and occasionally depressed.
(c) Reserved and self-critical.
(d) Tender and passionate but sometimes anxious.

13. What was the Transcendental Club?
(a) A school.
(b) A lecture series.
(c) A salon.
(d) A symposium.

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

15. In what religious sect was Edward Taylor active?
(a) Unitarian.
(b) Shouting Methodist.
(c) Baptist.
(d) Calvinist.

Short Answer Questions

1. Where does Richardson say Emerson and his brothers got their most profound education?

2. How does Richardson characterize Emerson's perspective on approaching Europe?

3. Where did Emerson and Lidian settle down after marrying?

4. How does Emerson describe war in "The Peace Principle?"

5. How does Richardson describe Emerson as a young boy?

(see the answer keys)

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