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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. How long did Ellen Tucker and Emerson know each other before they were engaged?
(a) Three years.
(b) Less than a year.
(c) Two years.
(d) Five years.

2. What does Richardson say is the immovable anchor in Emerson's thought?
(a) That the mind is unique in history.
(b) That man can know God's mind.
(c) That individuality is divinity.
(d) That the mind is connected to everything.

3. What was Emerson lecturing on while he was courting Lidian?
(a) Science.
(b) Biography.
(c) History.
(d) Literature.

4. How did travel in Italy affect Emerson?
(a) He was overcome with awe.
(b) He felt dwarfed by the history there.
(c) He was rejuvenated.
(d) He became suspicious of Old World philosophy.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How was Emerson's 1837 speech at Harvard on the American Scholar received?

2. How does Richardson characterize Emerson as a reader?

3. What 1837 event related to slavery does Richardson say affected Emerson's emotional state?

4. What was the title of Emerson's first sermon?

5. How does Richardson characterize Emerson's feelings on returning to America?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Emerson's relation with Hume?

2. Why did Emerson break with the church?

3. What was Emerson's relationship with tuberculosis?

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

5. Where did Emerson travel in Europe?

6. What was the Transcendental Club?

7. How did Emerson support himself after Harvard?

8. How close was the Emerson family after Emerson's return from Europe?

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

10. How does Richardson describe the birth of American Transcendentalism?

(see the answer keys)

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