In the American culture, one of the minds that has helped developed the identity of the American Literature was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson wrote many literary works such as “Self – Reliance”, “The American Scholar”, and “Nature”. In the works Emerson creates the idea of how the American identity should be structured and how scholars and students can go about making this identity. The main point that comes out through a lot of his writing is that one can create the American identify through that of the mind. Emerson create the concept of the heroic mind, a mind that can conquer anything and any situation. Emerson describes our surroundings and situations as “nature” stating that the mind can conquer nature and bend it to its will. Emerson in his story …show more content…
Emerson goes further to describe the vast superiority of the mind when he states, “It leaves me in the splendid labyrinth of my perceptions, to wander without end” (Emerson 237). Emerson is essentially saying that one can never fall prey to nature because the “heroic mind” can conquer any situation. Another writer of this era goes to challenge this and this writer is Edgar Allen Poe. Edgar Allen Poe wrote poems and short works such as “The Raven”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, and “Ligeia”. Poe challenges this concept through his writing because in his writings many of the characters of narrators fall prey to their situation causing them to be plunged into hysteria. From reading and examining Edgar Allen Poe’s “Ligeia” Poe is working to critique Emerson and his concept of the” heroic mind”. Poe works to show that humans are not in control of every situation and the mind cannot conquer everything. Poe through his short story states that one can fall prey to their own obsession as opposed to conquering them, or in other words fall prey to
Emerson's view in ‘The American Scholar’ encourages his idea of an intellectual power of a common man in an open approach, liberated from the literary and materialistic ties of Europe, supporting Emerson's ideas through his beliefs in mystical philosophy and its importance in the individual. He also emphasizes the role that nature plays in man's development. According to Emerson nature teaches the individual that there is a plan too much of systematic detection. For the American people of his time, technology has replaced the dictionary of life, and books provide not to "inspire"; instead, they are the manuals ordering people of letting the falsely believe in how they should live their lives. Yet, the American Scholar that is placed in Emerson’s heart strikes in many a young modern heart the angry independence. The scholar explains the mystified nature; one must be absorbed with nature before he can appreciate it. Nature teaches man to attach things together; trees sprout from roots and leaves grow on trees, hence proving that one comes from another being and supports each other’s sentiments. Man learns how to categorize and organize the things in nature- which simplifies his views, thoughts and judgments. The scholar must also take action fulfilling each and every moment of the day. The scholar should explore opportunities and be open to creativeness, work different jobs and learn new professions. Then he will learn new languages and modes in which to ...
Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston in 1803. He was a son of Unitarian minister and the descendant of New England clergymen. This led him to become a minister himself and later quit to focus on his philosophy called transcendentalism. Emerson started writing in his youth and later attended Harvard University. After graduating from Harvard in 1821 he taught in a women school. The book of Anthology of American Literature says, “Like his philosophy, his writing seemed to lack organization, but it swarmed with epigrams and memorable passages” (939). Even though Ralph Waldo Emerson’s works had flaws, he “was nineteenth-century America’s most notable essayist” (Anthology of American Literature 938). According to Daniel G. Payne Emerson’s point
Literature such as Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Nature” and Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden” reflect the tenets of Transcendentalism. They set the foundation for Transcendentalism because Emerson and Thoreau were the “fathers” of the literary movement. Both writers searched for truth and the meaning of life on an individual level that fit their feelings. They demonstrated the perfectibility and self-reliance of individuals. For example, “Walden” tells of Thoreau’s two years of living in the woods relying on himself for food and shelter and trying to simplify his life. He wanted to demonstrate that there was no evil in the simplicity of his forest home. Just as Thoreau’s “Walden” demonstrated Thoreau’s renewal or refreshing of his own spirit, Transcendentalism was the renewal or rebirth of American Literature.
In The American Scholar, Ralph Waldo Emerson touches on the topic of “individualism” and saw freedom as “an open ended process of self realization by which individuals could remake themselves and their own lives.” He wanted the people to make their life their own especially scholars because they were still connected to European life. He says, “The scholar is the man who must take up into himself all the ability of the time, all the contributions of the past, all the hopes of the future.” He places the responsibility on the individual to accomplish certain tasks, in this case the scholar is the
There may be a thread or fundamental truth that runs through the entirety of American literature. From the earliest American writings to present day publications, American writers are almost always concerned with individual identities in relation to the larger national identity. Even before America won its independence from Britain, Americans struggled with this concept. Look at Jonathan Edwards’s Personal Narrative, written in 1739, or The Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin, written in 1791. Edwards is looking at his relationship to God, other Americans, and the land itself, wondering what is the best way to serve all three oft these entities. Franklin is attempting to create an identity for himself through his, almost assuredly exaggerated, life stories, while cultivating a new American identity for other to follow through his philosophies of success. Struggling with one’s identity within a larger national identity may be as American as apple pie.
During the American literary movement known as Transcendentalism, many Americans began to looking deeper into positive side of religion and philosophy in their writing. However, one group of people, known as the Dark Romantics, strayed away from the positive beliefs of Transcendentalism and emphasized their writings on guilt and sin. The most well-known of these writers is Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was a dark romantic writer during this era, renown for his short stories and poems concerning misery and macabre. His most famous poem is “The Raven”, which follows a man who is grieving over his lost love, Lenore. In this poem, through the usage of tonal shift and progression of the narrator’s state of mind, Poe explores the idea that those who grieve will fall.
"In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, - no disgrace, no calamity (leaving me my eyes), which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, - my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space, - all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball. I am nothing. I see all. The currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God."
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Nature.” The American Experience. Ed. Kate Kinsella. Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005. 388-390. Print.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, nineteenth century poet and writer, expresses a philosophy of life, based on our inner self and the presence of the soul. Emerson regarded and learned from the great minds of the past, he says repeatedly that each person should live according to his own thinking. I will try to explain Emerson’s philosophy, according to what I think he is the central theme in all his works.
He became friends with Emerson in 1837. Thoreau is both romantic and naturalist. The relationship between man and nature in Emerson and Thoreau differs from the “Nature”, in which he established a new way for America’s hatchling society to regard the world. During that time American culture is highly influenced by the European culture so, Emerson through his speech he wants to suggest the real American culture and ask his citizens to preserve the essence of the real American culture, but according to the American story the world began with a single man and man is divided into several other man so that a work can be complete successfully because of increase in division among man the man no longer worked effectively with each other to get a better work. Emerson states that a true scholar must have great knowledge of nature to help in increasing self-awareness.
The Romantic era’s new “American identity” was realized by the 18th-century’s literary, social, and artistic push for the creation of a culture that was unique to American society and the expansionist urge to expand America’s political realm of power. This was achieved with the influence of manifest destiny and expansionism, the emergence of transcendentalism and transcendentalist literature, and the identity of the American man being characterized by the traits of the “common man”, and the exploration of nature and the frontier through art.
The tone of his work was focused on self-reliance and the problem of how to live. His writings provoked people to ask how instead of what and not we but I (Unger 1). Emerson’s essays spoke to people of the 19th century that were ready for individuality and a new optimism that liked God, nature, and man (Masterpieces 258).
The Motivation of Ralph Waldo Emerson in the Speech The American Scholar Nearly two hundred years ago Ralph Waldo Emerson delivered a speech to a group of scholars, it was his intention to motivate and inspire. He expressed his beliefs in a way that was objectionable to some and encouraging to others. Each man was given a chance to examine his life and the lives of their predecessors. Emerson shaped his speech, and bent the words around in a beautiful collage; he quickly established a mood that was felt throughout the room.
In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance,” Emerson calls for each person in society to be wholly true to themselves. He claims that it is most rewarding to the individual and the society for people to believe in one’s own thoughts and not in the thoughts of others. Emerson believes that conformity will ultimately lead to an individual’s demise because by living for others, people are not being true to themselves. Therefore in order to have a well-formed society, citizens should focus inward and have confidence in their own ideas before beginning to look towards other individuals; moreover, Emerson calls individuals not only in “Self-Reliance,” but also in numerous essays to act independently from conformity and to live for themselves.
The beauty of American literature extended beyond borders by the immersion of the Transcendentalism movement in the eighteenth century. Beginning its formation of the American intellect through a circle of friends in a modest way, the American transcendental movement drew upon the philosophies and religions of the world to bring into play their ideas of the importance of the self in spiritual life. With the leadership for the rethinking of the American Spirituality, Ralph Waldo Emerson was at the front of the movement. As one of the most influential literary figures of the nineteenth century, Emerson shaped the American philosophy which embraces optimism, individuality, and mysticism (“Emerson”).