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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 did Emerson move, in advance of writing Nature?
(a) His mother's house.
(b) His step-grandfather Ezra Ripley's house.
(c) His brother's house.
(d) Mary Moody Emerson's house.

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

3. What career paths was Emerson torn between?
(a) Preaching and writing.
(b) Farming and writing.
(c) Law and teaching.
(d) Preaching and law.

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

5. According to Richardson, what religious belief did Emerson turn toward while Ellen Tucker was dying?
(a) Pantheism.
(b) Methodism.
(c) Calvinism.
(d) Paganism.

Short Answer Questions

1. What practice did Emerson begin in college?

2. In what way did Emerson share a faith with Mary Rotch and the Quakers?

3. What does Richardson say is the immovable anchor in Emerson's thought?

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

5. What was the title of the lecture series Emerson delivered in 1837?

Short Essay Questions

1. What turning point did Emerson reach in his junior year of college?

2. Describe Emerson's relationship with Thoreau.

3. How did the birth of Emerson's first son change Emerson's intellectual interests?

4. What kinds of images does Richardson say dominated Emerson's thinking and writing in 1836?

5. How does Richardson characterize Lidian, Emerson's second wife?

6. How was the period surrounding Emerson's marriage a time of mixed blessings?

7. How did travel change Emerson's intellectual interests?

8. Where did Emerson travel in Europe?

9. Why did Emerson travel to the South?

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

(see the answer keys)

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