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

2. What did Emerson discover on reuniting with Carlyle?
(a) That they no longer saw eye to eye.
(b) That a hostility had opened within their friendship.
(c) That they had discovered a number of the same things independently.
(d) That their friendship was as secure as ever.

3. What idea of the author's does Richardson say Emerson followed "surprisingly far?"
(a) Respect for historical determinism.
(b) Disregard for individuality.
(c) Doubt about the possibility of transcendent experience.
(d) Faith in evolutionary processes.

4. What did Emerson witness in Europe?
(a) Famine and poverty.
(b) Modern warfare.
(c) Severe economic crisis.
(d) Revolutions in England and France.

5. What objection did Emerson make to Charles Fourier's utopian ideas?
(a) He was too pessimistic.
(b) He was too dependent on science.
(c) He had too much faith in people.
(d) He was too optimistic.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Richardson characterize Sufism?

2. What does Richardson say motivated Emerson's feelings about Brook Farm?

3. How does Richardson characterize 1844 in Emerson's life?

4. How does Richardson characterize Emerson's feeling about the essay "The Poet?"

5. According to Richardson, what feeling would stay with Emerson for the rest of his life, after the Norton affair?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe the effect Margaret Fuller Ossoli's death had on Emerson.

2. What was Emerson's response to the invitation to join Brook Farm?

3. Describe Emerson's relationship with Whitman.

4. What was Hegel's importance to Emerson's thinking?

5. What was the significance of Emerson's first daughter's name?

6. How did Emerson balance writing and editing?

7. How does Richardson describe Emerson's friendship with Thoreau after returning from England?

8. What was Emerson's relationship with "The Dial?"

9. In what ways did Emerson differ from his friends' opinions?

10. Describe Emerson's lecturing career.

(see the answer keys)

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