Essay On Emerson And Transcendentalism

Emerson and other Transcendentalists in Concord, Massachusetts sought answers to questions of literature of American, cultural value, art, and music as an independent nation. The biggest issue they saw was that much of what circulated as American was strongly influenced by the European and British culture. Americans were creativity that drew directly from its Old World thinking.
“why should we grope among the dry bones of the past, or put the living generation into masquerade out of its faded wardrobe?” Pg. 508 This is an echo of Ezekiel 37:1-14, specifically 37:4, where God tells Ezekiel to, Ez 37:4 “Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.”

Chapter 1 Nature
“Nature says,— he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight.” Pg. 510 Here, Emerson is personifying nature as being worthy of unconditional love from man. He is claiming that nature is stating that no matter what man may be feeling or thinking at a certain moment in time, she is to be praised and appreciated.

Even the corpse has its own beauty. But besides this general grace diffused over nature, almost all the individual forms are agreeable to the eye, as is proved by our endless imitations of some of them, as the acorn, the grape, the pine-cone, the wheat-ear” Pg. 513’ In one of his later by Emerson essays naval “The Spiritual Laws,” Emerson writes We discover that our life is embosomed in beautte Even the corpse that has lain in the chambers has added a solemn ornament to the house OR Emerson could also be recalling the time when he visited the grave of his first wife Ellen who died before the publication of nature on February 8,