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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 frame of mind on returning from Europe?

2. What does Richardson say crowds expected from Emerson?

3. With whom did Emerson take walks after returning from Europe?

4. How does Richardson characterize Emerson's response to his son's death?

5. What does Richardson say was the most important thing in Emerson's life?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Fourier's influence on Emerson's thinking?

2. How does Richardson characterize the importance of Emerson's friendships after his return from Europe?

3. What were Emerson's impressions of England when he traveled there in 1848?

4. What was Emerson's relationship with abolition?

5. What political events did Emerson witness during his trip to Europe?

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

7. What was Emerson's talk in Dartmouth like?

8. What does Richardson say was Emerson's last characteristic book?

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

10. To what use does Emerson put great men in Representative Men?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What role did death have to play in making Emerson the writer he became? Whose deaths really impacted him, and what did he take from each experience of grief?

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 overcome the grief and loss he experienced so many times? What counterbalanced the sorrow and misery? What emotional, spiritual or personal reserves did he draw on?

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