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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 was Emerson's family's economic status when Emerson was in college?

2. Where does Richardson say Emerson's interest in religion came from?

3. What idea did Emerson return to many times after giving his speech on American Scholar?

4. How does Richardson characterize Emerson's feelings about the changes he made after Ellen's death?

5. In what way did Emerson share a faith with Mary Rotch and the Quakers?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. What was Emerson's relationship with the Abolition movement?

5. How did Emerson describe Ellen's death?

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

7. Why did Emerson travel to the South?

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

9. What was Emerson's relation with Hume?

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

Emerson is famous for his belief in the idea that people are guided by inner lights. In what instances did Emerson act on this belief most effectively? How do his actions show us his philosophy, or is it in his writing that we see this most? (In which case, how do we understand the difference between the work and the man?)

Essay Topic 2

What is the role or importance of women in Emerson's life? What contribution did they make, and do you think that there is enough recognition of their contribution to his fame and reputation?

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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