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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Emerson mean when he writes: "...yet when the devout motions of the soul come, yield to them heart and life, though they should clothe God with shape and color"?
(a) You will find that God has an actual form.
(b) Encourage the artists that paint the likeness of God.
(c) God will take on form even if you never believed in a deity.
(d) You should give up your life for those that give form to God.

2. What are boys sure of in Emerson's example of how boys speak their mind?
(a) Themselves.
(b) Their parents.
(c) Their friends.
(d) Their dinner.

3. Which of the following figures does Emerson not mention as being an example of speaking one's mind?
(a) Milton.
(b) Socrates.
(c) Plato.
(d) Moses.

4. Who or what does Emerson say he is living his life for?
(a) Himself.
(b) God.
(c) Itself.
(d) The higher good of society.

5. What does Emerson suggest one should accept in regards to divine providence?
(a) The feelings divine providence has instilled in them.
(b) The place divine providence has found for them.
(c) The work divine providence has allotted them.
(d) The ideas divine providence has instilled in them.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do others use to "compute our orbit"?

2. What does Emerson say happens to the "voices which we hear in solitude" as we enter into the world?

3. Which effort does Emerson insist we obey?

4. How does Emerson say it is easy to live after your own opinion?

5. What does Emerson claim is the only thing that is sacred?

Short Essay Questions

1. At the beginning of paragraph 2, Emerson states: "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that ... no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil." Do you agree or disagree? Explain.

2. What does Emerson say about strength in numbers?

3. Explain Emerson's example of "boys who are sure of a dinner" from paragraph 5.

4. At the beginning of paragraph 16, Emerson says that "of one will, the actions will be harmonious, however unlike they seem." Explain this quote.

5. Emerson makes an important point about who or what one will see along the way "in the hour of vision" in paragraph 25. What does he say?

6. Emerson states in paragraph 3 that "We are now men." What does he insist that we must do?

7. At the beginning of paragraph 9, Emerson states: "What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule ... may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness." What does he mean by that?

8. In paragraph 10, Emerson gives a long account of exactly why he objects to conformity. His objection relates to personal "force" and the perception of character. Can you explain this objection?

9. In paragraph 36, Emerson talks about real and false prayer. Describe the difference.

10. Why do other members of society "need" us to be consistent according to Emerson in paragraph 12?

(see the answer keys)

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