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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 kind of men do the hard work of farming?

2. What contemporary of Emerson's is suggested in his poem "Forerunners"?

3. Whom does Emerson compare Lincoln to in "Abraham Lincoln"?

4. What role does the farmer play to mankind, according to "Farming"?

5. What is one danger of over-refinement?

Short Essay Questions

1. What three things does Emerson say Thomas Carlyle was?

2. Explain the relationship between Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.

3. Why does Emerson call the farmer the "continuous benefactor" of mankind in "Farming"?

4. What is the purpose of "Ezra Ripley, D.D."? Where was it presented?

5. What significance does "Walden" have to Emerson?

6. Explain the events that led to John Brown's death.

7. What does Emerson think of slavery, according to "Emancipation in the British West Indies"? What challenge does he issue in his essay?

8. Why do some people glamorize farming? Why does Emerson say they should not?

9. Explain how society and solitude are both necessary for people, according to "Society and Solitude".

10. What does Emerson think of Daniel Webster? Why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain Emerson's view of the rite of communion in Christianity. Include the Biblical evidence he uses in his essay, "The Lord's Supper", to support your claims.

Essay Topic 2

Explain transcendentalism, focusing on Emerson's expressions of it in "Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson".

Essay Topic 3

Explain Emerson's view of government and politics as it relates to his essay, "Politics".

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