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

2. Who was Emerson reading at the time he fell in love with Lydia Jackson?

3. What was Emerson's family's economic status when Emerson was in college?

4. What did Emerson suffer in 1837?

5. What was Emerson lecturing on while he was courting Lidian?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Emerson describe Ellen's death?

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

3. What was Emerson's relation with Hume?

4. How does Richardson describe Emerson as a child?

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

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

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

8. How did Emerson support himself after Harvard?

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

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

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

Are there aspects of Emerson's personality that Richardson overlooks or underplays? Make a case that Richardson has misrepresented Emerson in some way. What other Emersons do you think there might be, whose stories are still waiting to be told? Use the text for evidence, and explain your hunch.

Essay Topic 3

How did Emerson distinguish himself from the writers and thinkers around him? What individuality and uniqueness did he call upon to accentuate the difference between himself and Jones Very? Thoreau? His brothers and forefathers? His Aunt Mary? Carlyle?

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