View a FREE sample

This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is Emerson describing when he states: "In your metaphysics you have denied personality to the Deity: yet when the devout motions of the soul come ... they should clothe God with shape and color"?
(a) We can never truly know what God is like.
(b) You must be wary of religious emotion.
(c) Your own ideas of God are unimportant.
(d) It is acceptable to change one's mind.

2. What does Emerson say is a conspiracy against manhood?
(a) Joint-stock companies.
(b) Nature.
(c) Society.
(d) The world.

3. What does Emerson say he will do if he is the Devil's child?
(a) He will try to find God.
(b) He will live from the Devil.
(c) He will live wholly.
(d) He will find the doctrines of the church.

4. How does Emerson say a man can recognize what he is capable of?
(a) Nature tells him.
(b) His inner voice tells him.
(c) His inner power becomes clear.
(d) He cannot know until he's tried.

5. What does Emerson say conformity does in his objection to it?
(a) It scatters one's force.
(b) It weakens one's contribution.
(c) It drains one's will.
(d) It blurs one's judgment.

6. What does Emerson claim men believe about how they communicate their character?
(a) They believe their virtue and vice emit a breath every moment.
(b) They believe they can communicate their virtue without their vice.
(c) They believe that communicating virtuous actions makes up for their vice.
(d) They believe they communicate their virtue or vice only by overt actions.

7. Who wrote the verses that Emerson mentions at the beginning of the first paragraph?
(a) An well-known painter.
(b) An unknown painter.
(c) An unknown sculptor.
(d) A well-known author.

8. Who does Emerson make an example of when talking about living according to his recommendations?
(a) True geniuses.
(b) Great men.
(c) Great artists.
(d) Minors and invalids.

9. How does Emerson say a man feels when he has said or done something not according to his own will?
(a) Ashamed.
(b) Worried.
(c) Powerless.
(d) Restless.

10. Which of the following movements did Emerson NOT mention in his listing of "institutions"?
(a) Monachism.
(b) The Reformation.
(c) The Mongolian Empire.
(d) Abolition.

11. What does Emerson suggest about philanthropy?
(a) Philanthropy is our obligation to poor men.
(b) Philanthropy is the highest good.
(c) Philanthropy can be malice and vanity in disguise.
(d) It is our right to be philanthropic.

12. What does conformity explain?
(a) Nothing.
(b) Itself.
(c) Everything.
(d) One's fear.

13. 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) You should give up your life for those that give form to God.
(c) Encourage the artists that paint the likeness of God.
(d) God will take on form even if you never believed in a deity.

14. What does Emerson claim is the only thing that is sacred?
(a) Names and customs.
(b) The integrity of one's own mind.
(c) Tradition.
(d) The goodness of the world.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Besides children, who does Emerson say God has armed with "piquancy and charm"?

2. What does Emerson say a man must know how to estimate in talking about society and nonconformity?

3. Why does Emerson say about children's minds?

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

5. What does Emerson claim will happen when you do your work?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 618 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample