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

2. How did Emerson describe his experience of Ellen's death?

3. Who does Richardson credit with the birth of American Transcendentalism?

4. Who came to live with Emerson after his brother Charles died?

5. What vision did Emerson have in the Jardin de Plantes in Paris?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was the Transcendental Club?

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

3. Why did Emerson break with the church?

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

5. How did Emerson describe Ellen's death?

6. How did Emerson support himself after Harvard?

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

8. How was Emerson's intellectual interest changed by Ellen's illness and decline?

9. What was Emerson's relationship with tuberculosis?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Richardson says that Emerson was surprised by his reaction to Lincoln. Where else did Emerson surprise himself, and what value did he attach to being surprised? Was it something he sought out, or something he protected himself against? How did he do each of these things?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

What do you think is Emerson's legacy, and who do you think embodies his ideas or messages today? Was his most important legacy his writing or his lectures, his life, or the legend of his personality? What lines have come from him, and who carries those lines now?

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