View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. On what theme did Emerson's letters and journals begin to focus after Margaret Fuller's death?

2. What brought Emerson to Europe?

3. How did Emerson portray great men?

4. What does Richardson say were Emerson's feelings about marriage?

5. How did Emerson see his personal history, according to Richardson?

Short Essay Questions

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

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

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

4. How does Richardson characterize the change that took place in Emerson after Waldo's death?

5. What was Emerson's relationship with abolition?

6. What was Hegel's importance to Emerson's thinking?

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

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

9. Who was Hafiz and what was his influence on Emerson?

10. How did Emerson balance writing and editing?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

Emerson wrote essays on love and spiritual laws, but never marriage. Why not, do you think?

Essay Topic 3

Evaluate your own reading of The Mind on Fire. Did you resist it, or were you compelled by the story? What does your reading tell you about yourself and your interests? Use specific examples from the book to describe yourself as a reader.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 822 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample