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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What idea did Emerson return to many times after giving his speech on American Scholar?
(a) The uniqueness of America.
(b) The importance of marriage.
(c) The unity of things.
(d) The omnipotence of God.

3. What topic did Emerson lecture on after returning home from Europe?
(a) Science.
(b) Religion.
(c) Biography.
(d) Literature.

4. What was Emerson's relationship with his reading?
(a) He tried to lose himself in his reading.
(b) He tried to inhabit each author's mind.
(c) He tried to claim the experiences contained in each book.
(d) He tried to remain independent of what he read.

5. How does Richardson characterize the beginning of Emerson's relation with Margaret Fuller?
(a) Shaky.
(b) Wary distrust.
(c) Love at first sight.
(d) Instantaneous respect.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was Emerson's first son's name?

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

3. What idea of Emerson's influenced Richardson's biography?

4. How did Emerson change after opening Ellen's casket?

5. On whom did Emerson's reading focus after he graduated from Harvard?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Emerson's view of American literature?

2. Describe Emerson's relationship with Thoreau.

3. How did Emerson support himself after Harvard?

4. What was the 'immovable anchor' in Emerson's thinking, according to Richardson?

5. How was Emerson's intellectual interest changed by Ellen's illness and decline?

6. What Quaker belief of Mary Rotch's did Emerson find compelling?

7. How did Emerson describe Ellen's death?

8. How does Richardson describe Emerson as a student?

9. What was Emerson's relation with Hume?

10. How was Emerson's "American Scholar" talk received?

(see the answer keys)

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