Transcendentalism Quiz

Transcendentalists believe in finding individual truth through ________.

• love

• money

• nature

• success

Which of the following is NOT a core belief of Transcendentalism?

• individualism and self-reliance

• the inherent goodness of people

• nature as a source of inspiration and spiritual growth

• an emphasis on material wealth and social conformity

Henry David Thoreau urged people to live as ________ as possible.

• simply

• humbly

• wildly

• extravagantly

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Thoreau is best known for his work, ________.

• Nature

• Walden

• "Self-Reliance"

• "Civil Disobedience"

While writing his most notable work, Thoreau lived by a pond for two years in which Northeastern state?

• Vermont

• Connecticut

• Massachusetts

• New Hampshire

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In "Where I Lived and What I Lived For," Thoreau states, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life." Which Transcendentalist idea does this quote best demonstrate?

• finding meaning by focusing on life's essentials

• escaping society to be alone

• studying plants and animals

• writing about nature

Which of the following quotes best sums up Thoreau's thoughts on living a simple life?

• "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!"

• "Our life is frittered away by detail."

• "I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand"

• "An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in some cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest."

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Which of the following quotes best sums up Thoreau's thoughts on communication and the news?

• "For my part, I could easily do without the post-office."

• "And I am sure that I never read any memorable news in a newspaper."

• "To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit and read it are old women over their tea."

• "To speak critically, I never received more than one or two letters in my life - I wrote this some years ago - that were worth the postage."

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How does the following quote from Thoreau's "The Ponds" reflect a Transcendentalist view of the world?

• "It is a soothing enjoyment, on one of those days in the fall when all the warmth of the sun is fully appreciated, to sit on a stump on such a height as this, overlooking the pond, and study the dimpling circles which are incessantly inscribed on its otherwise invisible surface amid the reflected skies and trees."

• It shows nature as a scientific specimen to be studied

• It demonstrates nature's dangers and threats to humanity

• It illustrates nature as a mere backdrop to human activities

• It conveys nature as a source of beauty, truth, and personal growth

Which of the following quotes best reflects the Transcendentalist of individualism (i.e., being independent and self-reliant)?

• "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life." (Henry David Thoreau)

• "Whoso would be man, must be a nonconformist." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

• "I celebrate myself, and sing myself …" (Walt Whitman)

• All of the above