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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What imagery filled Emerson's prose and poems in 1836?

2. What is the main theme of Nature?

3. How does Richardson characterize the development of Emerson's writing in 1834?

4. What does Richardson say was happening as Emerson and his brother Charles grew closer?

5. How did travel in Italy affect Emerson?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

3. What view of Jakob Boehme's did Emerson pick up?

4. What is Emerson doing when Richardson introduces us to him?

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

6. How did Emerson support himself after Harvard?

7. How does Richardson describe Emerson as a student?

8. What was Emerson's relationship with tuberculosis?

9. How does Richardson describe Emerson as a child?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an evaluative review of The Mind on Fire. What is this book's place in culture? What are its uses? Who is its audience? What are its limitations?

Essay Topic 2

Emerson advocated first-hand experience of life, and yet his life was a fairly stable, conventional life, with a wife and children, and steady adherence to work. Do you think Emerson's work suffers for its lack of more extreme or unconventional experiences?

Essay Topic 3

Which writer or intellectual do you think had the greatest influence on Emerson? Hegel? Hume? Taylor? Fuller? Thoreau? Make an argument based on the text.

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