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Walden by henry david thoreau about
How does Emerson sketch the relationship between man and nature in his essay Nature
Walden by henry david thoreau about
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Emerson is a transcendentalist who drew inspiration from nature. Emerson’s thought motivated most of the American writers and also most of the poet got inspired by Emerson’s words. He also spoke against slavery and even helped runaway slaves. Thoreau is also an American transcendentalist and also he is interested in studying about nature. He inspired countless people and also he was jailed for not accepting tax system. Later, Thoreau went to wood so that he can concentrate on his work. He was so interested to nature that he kept every detail note and observation on nature. So, in “The American Scholar” Emerson considers man and nature as same, where as in “Walden” Thoreau considers nature more important than man.
According to Emerson, he considers both nature and man equally and he says that men are multi-talented and men have the ability to be whatever he wants. However, most of the people don’t find the talent within themselves and they end up doing something else in their life. “When man gets in the field, he becomes farmer, instead of man”. Likewise, people create their own boun...
Transcendentalists Thoreau and Emerson conveyed strong, specific viewpoints on the world through their writing. The transcendentalist ideals differ vastly with the lives lived by most of the modern world today. Firstly, the two differ on views of self-reliance. Secondly, they have different outlooks on the government and organized groups. Lastly, transcendentalist and modern American views vary by the way they view nature. These differences between transcendentalism and life today are essential in understanding life then, as well as life now.
Emerson and Franklin both had very similar ideas in regard to human behavior, but they believed in opposing outcomes from following these similar life styles. They both believed that by controlling ones desire and impulsive nature one could better themselves and their purpose in society. However their end results are very contrasting, Emerson is bettering himself for the discovery of knowledge, Franklin is bettering himself to improve his image and his money making ability. They also contrast on many of their fundamental beliefs of what the duty of the individuals role in society is. Franklin gives a process by which every individual can better themselves and the public as a whole. Emerson’s ideas on the other hand revolve around the idea of self discovery and the betterment of ones mind through the acquisition of knowledge leading to the Universal Truth.
Essay question: Compare and contrast the relationship between man and nature in Emerson and Thoreau.
know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my
Let’s look at some passages and analyze their styles of writing and content. Emerson wrote in “Self Reliance”, “Man is his own star; and the soul that can render an honest and perfect man” (Norton). Thoreau wrote in “Walden Pond”, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” (Norton). Emerson was more philosophical and presented his writings as more of a lecture. Thoreau's writings were more intimate and personal in style. He was the central character of his stories. Thoreau lived on Walden Pond and actually lived what he wrote about. Hawthorne was completely opposite of Emerson and Thoreau. He was an “Anti-transcendentalist” which believed, “man is born with the strain of original sin, man is the most destructive force in nature, one can only find good through good works and life experiences” (Brozeck). Hawthorne was more dark in his writing as is evident in a passage from the “Scarlett Letter”. “The founders of the new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison” (Hawthorne). From this passage, it is
While Emerson and Thoreau certainly have difference of opinions, they recognize the need for public discussion and discourse. Emerson declares “a foolish consistency” to be “the hobgoblin of little minds” (Emerson 367). This is shown in their essays “Self-Reliance” and “Civil Disobedience” in which they support individuality and personal expression. Despite their contrasting views of society and government, the two most prominent transcendentalists in literary history share a passionate belief in the necessity that every American must exercise their constitutional rights and make known their views even and especially if it challenges the status quo.
The messages about the individual conveyed in Emerson’s “Self Reliance” and “American Scholar” are in harmony with the messages conveyed in Crevecoeur’s “What is an American?”. According to Emerson and Crevecoeur, the American individual would be hard working, self reliant, strive for personal freedom and follow their own goals. This would require the ability to reject previous ideologies and avoid conformity. Crevecoeur drew from his experience as an early American Farmer, observing the potential of all men, and their ability to honor nature and model goodness. He concluded that the individual possessing these qualities would find success. Emerson was a philosopher and leader of the transcendentalist movement. He too, stressed the inherent
...ing Henry David Thoreau into a prominent American Romantic writer. Such elements include his writings about life in Nature having great solitude; he became friends with the surrounding plants and animals. Secondly, he wrote about what was occurring day to day at Walden’s Pond which showed him as being individualistic. Moreover, there was the idea that God can only be found in nature, and pantheism was constant idea in his book. Finally, Thoreau wrote about intuition as a means of obtaining knowledge, and his use of senses as a tool for building intuition. These ideas time and time again show the various aspects of Thoreau being portrayed as an American Romantic which has lead to a great historical achievement as a writer that he well deserves.
“Identity means who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group which make them different from others,” (Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Third Edition). Every individual, group and country has their own identity which makes them different from others and it shows uniqueness of oneself. Reaction against the existing philosophy takes place when there is conflict in interest amongst the philosophers. It was from the late eighteenth century until mid nineteenth century that the philosophical and literary movement (Transcendental Movement) took place in America as a result of extreme rationalism of the enlightenment. “Transcendentalism, an idealist philosophical tendency among writers in and around Boston in the mid-19th century. Growing out of Christian Unitarianism in the 1830s under the influence of German and British Romanticism, transcendentalism affirmed Kant’s principle of intuitive knowledge not derived from the senses, while rejecting organized religion for an extremely individualistic celebration of the divinity in each human being” (Oxford Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms, p. 262). Thus, being the transcendentalists, both Emerson and Thoreau represented American Identity by influencing American to participate in the construction of American identity through their writings and actions. Therefore, this essay will compare and contrast the way in which Emerson and Thoreau represented American Identity; firstly it will argue Emerson’s influence on the American scholars to create American Identity through creation of an intellectual scholars, which was unique and free from European influence and secondly it will discuss th...
Thoreau wrote, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” The words transformed people’s lives to think more of the why in life and live with a purpose not just do what they are told, which was a driving idea within the Transcendentalist movements. Transcendentalist were hard to define, but perhaps one of the fathers of transcendentalism Ralph Waldo Emerson defines it most gracefully in a speech he gave, “The Transcendentalist adopts the whole connection of spiritual doctrine, He believes in miracle, in the perpetual openness of the human mind to new influx of light and power: he believes in inspiration, and in ecstasy”. As Emerson’s key student and self-proclaimed Transcendentalist Thoreau fulfilled these requirements to help further this movement of higher
Emerson starts with a description of one who has the ideal relationship with nature, "The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood." Emerson is saying that man needs to retain wonder of nature, a quality often lost as a person ages. People become too distracted by petty conflicts that in Emerson's eyes, are ultimately insignificant.
Throughout the other chapters, Emerson explores the idea of nature as instructor to man and how man can learn from nature. He repeatedly says that nature is a divine creation of God and through it man can learn to be closer to god. However, despite the reverence, awe, and prerequisite mental status, he also presents the concept of nature being 'below' and man on a 'Scala Natura ' of sorts. Although man seen as connected to and part of nature, for he questions if we can "separate the man from the living picture" of nature (26), he finds that nature is nothing without human interpretation because "All facts in natural history taken by themselves have not value . . .. but marry it to human history, and it is full of life," (33). However, there appears to be some more complicated interactions between nature and humans because human language, arguably one of the most important inventions/discoveries in our history is immediately dependent on nature (35). In a chapter titled Discipline, Emerson states that 'nature is thoroughly mediate. It is made to serve," (45). Emerson believes that the human form is superior to all other organizations which appear to be degradations of it (50).
Ralph Waldo Emerson's Nature and Henry David Thoreau's Walden provide a window into the mind of a Transcendentalist-a mind which prized the divinity of nature, individuality and rejection of materialism. Both men were able to recognize the divinity which is inherent in both humanity as well as nature. Their brilliant insights intrigued many minds and encouraged further generations of writers and poets to explore their own sentiments. The popularity of their works throughout the ages is a testament to the truth of their insight. This unique blend of philosophy, religion, and literature is perhaps idealistic to the materialist, yet it offers the true path to divine wisdom.
In an address to the scholars in the Phi Beta Kappa society at Cambridge in Massachusetts Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1837 delivered a speech in which he stated that the literature during the European influence required scholars to memorize texts written by other writers. The speech was titled The American Scholar and the main idea of his speech was that the literature in America should be completely different from the European literature. Basically the scholars should have the freedom to write in any form they wish to write in and not copy the way other writers have already written. By this statement Emerson reminds the citizens of America that their culture were modified by the Europeans so much that people had already started to forget their own culture. In this respect Emerson is reminding the citizens of America that since they won the war of independence against the Europeans and that they now had a chance to start afresh every developmental activity. Therefore in literature to start fresh the Americans needed to write in a new form that would be different from how the Europeans wrote and had taught Americans to write. Emerson claims that the new form of writing can be achieved through influences from nature, books and action. He was thus a transcendentalist.
When one observes a piece of art, whatever medium that maybe, one might be thinking of; the beauty that resides within each piece or the artist and his inspiration. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson in his Essay “Nature”, “A work of art is an abstract or epitome of the world. It is the result or expression of nature, in miniature”. Nature, and art are both very subjective ideas that are open to interpretation. In order to understand what makes art, abstract one must understand the process in which such beauty was created. Emerson describes in this quote that art is a replication of the beauty that is found within nature. Upon closer examination of Emerson’s ideas one can conclude that a link between man and nature is needed for one to understand