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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Richardson say caused Emerson to become less innocent?
(a) Getting older.
(b) Waldo's death.
(c) Ellen's death.
(d) His marriage.

2. What brought Emerson to Europe?
(a) Curiosity to travel in Greece.
(b) A lecture tour in England.
(c) Visits in Italy.
(d) Invitations to write in Malta.

3. How does Richardson characterize "The Dial?"
(a) As Emerson's mouthpiece.
(b) As the work that inspired Emerson.
(c) As forward looking but also memorializing the dead.
(d) As mostly comprised of Emerson's work.

4. With what point of Goethe's did Emerson conclude his lectures on great men?
(a) That we must find the middle path between action and meditation.
(b) That the times had changed, and human life would be something new from this point.
(c) That we must put what we know into practice.
(d) That we have to honor tradition even as we innovate.

5. What theme does Richardson say Emerson began to write about as he turned forty?
(a) Idealism.
(b) Mysticism.
(c) Isolation.
(d) Political resistance.

6. What did Jones Very claim to be?
(a) Emerson's first disciple.
(b) The first genuine American Poet.
(c) Insane.
(d) The Messiah.

7. How does Richardson characterize Sufism?
(a) Not a religion but religion.
(b) As the first building block of all subsequent religions.
(c) As the first modern religion.
(d) Eastern Pragmatism.

8. Who does Emerson say he had always considered his best friend?
(a) Thoreau.
(b) Lidian.
(c) Fuller.
(d) Ellen.

9. What did Margaret Fuller ask Emerson for in 1840?
(a) Advice for her writing.
(b) A closer relationship.
(c) A recommendation.
(d) Money.

10. What did Emerson begin to write about after returning to America?
(a) Getting older and facing death.
(b) The realizations he had in the Paris Jardin des Plantes.
(c) His trip to England.
(d) The political events he witnessed.

11. What world literature did Emerson include in "The Dial?"
(a) Accounts of ecstatic religious experiences.
(b) Scriptures.
(c) Histories.
(d) Poems.

12. In what realization of Pythagoras' was Emerson interested?
(a) That not everything was in flux.
(b) That all things are made of material.
(c) That change was the only constant.
(d) That everything is spirit.

13. How did Andrews Norton review Emerson's Dartmouth lecture?
(a) Slyly.
(b) Bitterly.
(c) Jubilantly.
(d) Harshly.

14. What did Emerson say about women's rights?
(a) That women had already proved themselves more than capable of equality with men.
(b) That they should acquire them slowly and patiently.
(c) That advocacy was the only obstacle to full recognition; but that advocacy sapped every cause.
(d) That they should have them, but that they did not want them.

15. Which of Emerson's friendships was tested on Emerson's return from Europe?
(a) Sturgis.
(b) Fuller.
(c) Thoreau.
(d) Hedge.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what cause does Richardson attribute Emerson's moodiness in advance of his trip to Europe?

2. How did Emerson see his personal history, according to Richardson?

3. What did Emerson discover on reuniting with Carlyle?

4. What did Emerson become interested in after discovering Hafiz?

5. What idea of the author's does Richardson say Emerson followed "surprisingly far?"

(see the answer keys)

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