...Jonathan Veldhuyzen Professor Matthew Towles English 201-002 11/21/2014 Ralph Waldo Emerson: His own God and Transcendentalist Worldview “The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, though their own eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insights and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us,” (940, 941) were the words written by Emerson in the introduction of his renown work “Nature” as he espoused that men should not necessarily believe in a God through ideals seen in the Bible and evidenced in nature, but rather use their own logic through poetry and philosophy to determine their own God. His writings espoused beliefs that do not reflect a Christian worldview, but rather bases man’s salvation on his own intuition. Emerson was a rebel in his time, he had independent views that did not align to any system of values. According to “Anthology of American Literature,” Bronson Alcott declares that “Emerson’s church consists of one member-himself.” These words signify that Emerson’s ideas and values were so radical for the time that very few people shared his beliefs. Yet, he was not alone in espousing thinking that seemed somewhat pantheistic and contradictory to what he had preached many years earlier. During the 1830’s Ralph Waldo Emerson joined with some other literary authors of the day in supporting a set of values that looked beyond a Supreme Being for...
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...Ralph Waldo Emerson was conceived on May 25, 1803, in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1821, he assumed control as executive of his sibling's school for young ladies. In 1823, he composed the sonnet "Good-Bye." In 1832, he turned into a Transcendentalist, prompting the later expositions "Self-Reliance" and "The American Scholar." Emerson kept on composing and address into the late 1870s. Emerson married Ellen Tucker in 1829. When she passed away from tuberculosis in 1831, he was filled with sorrow. Her death, added to his own faith crisis which made him leave from the ministry. Emerson traveled to Europe were het met with literary figures and on his return back to home in 1833,is when he began to lecture on topics of spiritual experience and ethical...
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...Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American Transcendentalist poet, philosopher and essayist during the 19th century (www.biography.com). One of his most famous quotes was, “Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow" (Emerson). To me, this has been a quote used many times throughout my life. Things in my life have relayed this message to me in many different ways such as trying new foods, playing new sports, and wearing different clothing. Growing up, my mom has encouraged me to try different foods that I’m not used to. When I was little, she would say, “Eat your greens!” Of course I would never listen, but when I got older, I started eating them more. This sparked new curiosities that led me to trying...
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...“Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.” As Ralph Waldo Emerson outlined in this quote, those who wish to be present in society, therefore classified as “a man”, must live by a transcendental way of life. Transcendentalism, a political and social movement, takes root in nonconformity. It alo relies heavily on the reflection of the Divine Soul that can be found in all objects, and on the importance of nature. The journey into nature, taken by Chris McCandless, is a direct representation of the views of Emerson, as reflected in “Nature”, and “Self-Reliance”, put into action. Emerson wrote both of these essays in order to show the positive impact transcendentalism can have on one’s live, and why more people should live by it, like McCandless. In his essay entitled “Nature”, Emerson wrote, “The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and vulgar things.” By separating oneself from the material world, all the detrimental aspects of life will be eliminated. In this essay, he also references childhood and the importance of childhood curiosity even as an adult. People should think of their childhood, and about...
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...Ralph Waldo Emerson says: ”The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship”. In his first book; "Nature", Emerson tells many ideas about life but the most important is about the relationship between nature and humans.Emerson lived long enough in a forest to realize many lessons that nature can give us, one of which was one of the ones that most surprised him was its worship. Emerson learned to see the world in a different way from the rest of the authors, that's why his books were very special. Emerson was a Christian since he was a little boy, then he was ordained as a pastor. He concentrated on biblical studies; In my opinion, Emerson learned the true meaning of writing and wisdom from his studies of the Bible. When...
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...Transcendentalism Essay The transcendentalism era is a religious movement that started in the 1800s. Transcendentalist such as Margaret Fuller edited “The dial” and Henry david thoreau wrote “Civil disobedience”. Ralph Waldo Emerson; one belief of a transcendentalist; is believing that everyone is naturally good. He also believed that a person’s power is limitless. He wrote both of “Nature”, and “Self-Reliance”. Ralph Waldo Emerson a transcendentalist who believed that people should be independent is why he led the transcendentalist club and relates his theme to the hunger games movie. (“Guided Notes”) Ralph Emerson is a transcendentalist who wrote the essay “self-reliance”. The theme of “Self-Reliance” is being able to rely on yourself or...
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...“Nature”, Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was Thoreau’s friend, writes about how nature brings us back to who we really are. In the excerpt from “Self-Reliance”, Emerson writes about how the only person you can really trust or need is yourself in order to have a simple, happy life. Thoreau and Emerson both believed that in order to have a happy life, you need to live simply. In the excerpt from Walden called “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For.” Henry Thoreau writes that he “moved to the woods to live deliberately”. This means he willingly wanted to live in the woods to find himself in nature. He also wanted to “front only the essential facts of life, and see if...
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...he or she is carrying out a divine purpose of life, as no one before them could have had the exact same ideas, strengths, or mental environment to work with. Those who flout the rules and conventions of society and religion do, however, suffer disapproval as a result. But, Emerson points out, those men who were earlier condemned are now considered some of the greatest thinkers...
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...Ralph Waldo Emerson once indicated " to be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment". The world is full of people who tries to make you conform to their opinion of a perfect society. Also if every individual would conform then there would be no personality. Conformity plays a big part of why people do not chase their dreams and be their selves. Not only would life be plain and boring but no one would have their own opinions about how they live their life. For instance, in the story For muslim american baby Aidan or baby muhammad the narrator was scared to name his son Aidan because of the criticism he would endure. This demonstrates how society wants you to conform to stereotypes...
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...Individualism: In the year of 1841, a writer by the name of Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote an essay titled “Self-Reliance” about his philosophy on what it means to be a self-reliant individual through a series of ideas. Emerson’s philosophy is one of optimism and hope, it is based as much on intuition as it is on logic or reason, and it is idealistic in its validation of the inherent worth of each individual form of existence. Two of the ideas that Emerson writes about are “Charity” and “Individualism.” He rejects the idea of charity being an “apology” and wants the individual to live free of shame. According to Emerson, it is better for charitable acts to be genuine rather inconstant. However, he believes that Individualism is important and that people should trust and be true to themselves. Emerson considers charity as an unacceptable institution. According to him, charity is uncharitable and hypocritical. He argues that a man should worry more about his or her own family and community at home than about “black folk a thousand miles off” (4), and he chides people who give money to the poor. “Are they my poor?” he asks. He refuses to support morality through donations to organizations rather than directly to individuals. The concrete act of charity, in other words, is real and superior to abstract or theoretical morality. He sees charity as cloaked with hate and pride, as an untrue institution that serves only our vanity. Emerson also believes that men only act charitably in penance...
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...Ideal Society Through Thoreau’s and Emerson’s Eyes Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are considered two of the most influential and inspiring writers of their time. Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was an essayist, and poet, was born on May 25, 1803, and is generally considered the father of American philosophy that rejects the idea that knowledge can be fully derived from experience and observation rather, truth exists in the spiritual world. Henry David Thoreau is his student, who was also a great essayist and critics. Both men extensively studied and embraced nature, and both men encouraged and practiced individualism, nonconformity and freedom. In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Self Reliance” and Henry David Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience”, both composure thinkers speak about being individual and what changes need to be made in society. Ralph Waldo Emerson and his follower, Henry David Thoreau, both individualists, attacked the religious, political, and cultural values of American society in order to make people aware that they are more important than everything, including government and society. According to Emerson, society is an obstruction against the individuality of its members, “Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most requests is conformity”. The solution, for Emerson, is self-reliance, meaning that man is only responsible...
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...Title: Thoreau and Emerson In today’s society each individual has the ability to thinks for themselves, but the inception of different ideas and thoughts has led to a population that’s dominated by the majority . We live in a society where a media, television and internet are the sources of manipulating a person’s mind. It also creates their mindset to determine how one think about themselves or and different view point on topic. In this particular essay I am going to be talking about two main people who had similar argument about how to be individual and not let government take control over your lives. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were most influential writers of their time. They both had encouraged and practice individualism and nonconformity. In Ralph Waldo Emerson essay “Self Reliance” and Henry David Thoreau essay “Resistance to Civil Government” both spoke about how to become individual and what improvements needed to be made in American society. Emerson’s writings focus more on the self part of humanism and independence from society. On the other hand, Thoreau focused on writing on matters of the self but tended to have more of a political overtone in his argument. They both wanted to attack the dominant religious, political and cultural values of American society in order to make people aware that the individual is more important than the government and society. Thoreau and Emerson tried to incorporate the idea of relying on others to determine...
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...up the American villages. Additionally, it gives an account of how American political and social views changed before and after the Revolutionary War. Establishing Rip Van Winkle as a piece of American Literature. Wheatley’s poem, To His Excellency General Washington, can be called American Literature because it demonstrates the unbreakable attitude of those who become true Americans. Despite being taken from her birth country, Wheatley adapts and becomes a productive member of American society. She further provided inspiration to society and the leader of America through her poetry. Finally, Emerson’s work, The American Scholar has provided and will continue to provide sound advice for creators of American literature to follow. Emerson tells American Scholars to break away from the classic literary works of the Europeans. The American Scholar should be men of action, not just thinkers. The American Scholar should form their own ideas when creating pieces of literature, specifically, American Literature. Undoubtable, Hemingway has been proven...
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...The Constitution is the founding document for American democracy, and it features many ideas from the time it was written. One set of ideas that are not prominently feature in the constitution are those of Transcendentalism. Transcendentalism is a philosophy that is based around a focus on ideas and feelings, and the belief that individuals can find truth within themselves. The best know Transcendentalist writers include the likes of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, who became well known for their strong political opinions (Brodrick). Issues that are extremely important to the Transcendentalists such as slavery and the forcible removal of Native Americans from their land are not addressed, and barely mentioned in the body of the...
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...Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882) Beauty Was never form and never face So sweet to SEYD as only grace Which did not slumber like a stone, But hovered gleaming and was gone. Beauty chased he everywhere, In flame, in storm, in clouds of air. He smote the lake to feed his eye With the beryl beam of the broken wave; He flung in pebbles well to hear The moment's music which they gave. Oft pealed for him a lofty tone From nodding pole and belting zone. He heard a voice none else could hear From centred and from errant sphere. The quaking earth did quake in rhyme, Seas ebbed and flowed in epic chime. In dens of passion, and pits of woe, He saw strong Eros struggling through, To sun the dark and solve the curse, And beam to the bounds of the universe. While thus to love he gave his days In loyal worship, scorning praise, How spread their lures for him in vain Thieving Ambition and paltering Gain! He thought it happier to be dead, To die for Beauty, than live for bread This section introduces the idea that beauty is a part of nature that serves our needs. Emerson finds that the landscape has perfect order; this order creates a unity composed of the eye beholding a scene and the natural light highlighting the scene's inherent beauty. The third point Emerson makes concerning beauty is that it is pleasing to the intellect. Continuing his theme of nature's perfect order through the time era of romanticism...
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