Ralph Waldo Emerson
Biography
-Born on the 25th of May, 1803 in Boston.
-Died on the 27th of April, 1882 in Massachusetts.
-Was an essayist, poet and philosopher.
-created the transcendental club which we will look at in more
detail later on.
-Was a graduate from Harvard and also lectured at Harvard.
-Most famous works were both essays: “Nature” and “Self
Reliance”
Ralph Waldo Emerson and
Transcendentalism.
During the 1830’s and 1840’s Emerson and a small group of
intellectuals gathered to discuss Religion, politics and
literature. This group or club was known as the
transcendental club. The club developed a philosophical
view that stressed individuality and self reliance. Emerson
became known as the boss of Transcendentalism after
publishing “Nature”. The essay that spoke about connecting
with nature and stripping life down to its bare minimum
and that we only understand and appreciate reality by
studying nature.
Waldo Emerson after graduating Harvard became a pastor
at the second church of Boston. Saddened by the sudden
death of his wife, Waldo Emerson resigned in 1832, and
after travelling Europe and meeting English poets William
Wordsworth and Taylor Coleridge it sparked Waldo Emerson
to settle back in America, start the Transcendental club and
his lifelong career of writing and teaching.
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s social, political
and historical impacts
Waldo Emerson was the boss of the Transcendental period
in writing and during his reign his social and historical
influence, one could say was to influence most of the
writers of the New England or American Renaissance. One
of the most influenced writers of the transcendental
literature period was Henry David Thoreau. Emerson
reflected much of his philosophy in many of his works,
during the years of the Civil war Waldo Emerson delivered
many moving lectures on anti slavery.
Nature
Written
by
Ralph Waldo Emerson
In the essay “Nature” Waldo Emerson explains in depth that a man can not only
appreciate nature but reality, when they are away from every day life and in
solitude.
Title- the title reflects a very broad view of what the essay is about, but with
background information on Waldo Emerson and Transcendentalism one can
understand just from the title what nature will mean to a transcendentalist.
Theme-peace, simplicity
Symbolism-The peace and simplicity are resembled in the first few lines “…in
good health. The air is a cordial of incredible virtue. Crossing a bare common…”
and also in the picture on the bottom left of the page. All these features
symbolize a calm, peaceful setting.
Imagery-Once again the picture reflects upon the image that the audience is
wanted to perceive. And the quote “In snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded
sky.”
mood-Is a feeling of satisfaction and connection “…without having in my thoughts
any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I
am glad to the brink of fear, in the woods.
DictionThe wording is very denotative and not very connotative, Due to the setting
of when the piece was written it was not common to find connotations.
ImagesWaldo Emerson uses comparisons to get images across an example of this is
“A man casts off his years as a snake his slough”
DetailsAs the title indicates the Essay is about nature and Waldo Emerson’s
relationship with it, he is very articulate and concise when describing the
scene setting. “bare ground”, “blithe air”
LanguageThe overall use of the language is quite formal and not so informal due to
the piece being an essay. The language is very concise and to the point apart
from very few comparisons that have already been mentioned in images.
Sentence StructureSentences are generally throughout the essay concise, short and sharp.
However in saying that there are a few run on sentences that flow to
describe a certain thing or aspect.
Self Reliance
Written
By
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Title- The title “Self Reliance” reflects upon Waldo Emerson’s philosophy that a man should
not follow others, but instead should look to nature and to live a simple lifestyle of purity.
Theme- The theme is a theme of anger and determination to manipulate the audience of
the reader to be persuaded into seeing why one must not follow other and instead to life a
pure lifestyle. “That envy is ignorance, that imitation is suicide”
Symbolism- Big names being misunderstood Symbolise Waldo Emerson’s philosophical view
that a man should not follow other’s. He expands on this by saying that a man cannot even
rely on another wise spirit as “Socrates, Jesus, Luther etc…that ever took flesh (others
opinions reassurance) to great is to be misunderstood”
Imagery- Waldo Emerson portrays the following of others as bad as it is not living a pure life,
it is seen as dark chaotic and evil. “But guides, redeemers, and benefactors. Obeying the
Almighty effort and advancing on Chaos and Dark”
Diction
The diction in “Self Reliance” is still very denotative as it is an essay. However compare to
“Nature”, “Self Reliance” contains more connotative words and phrases.
Images
Images are portrayed through comparisons once again
E.g. “Society is a joint stock company” and “Every heart vibrates to that iron string”
These are visual connotations and comparisons.
Details
Waldo Emerson manages to link facts into his essay by saying that people such as
Pythagoras all the way to Newton were people who managed contribute to science and
philosophy were originally misunderstood.
But he does not explain in depth why they were misunderstood and how the times may
have contributed to these misunderstandings of the individuals.
Language
The language is quite formal and manipulative. It is meant to be persuasive and certain
phrases are quite aggressive in order for Waldo Emerson to get his point across. E.g.
“Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of everyone of its members”.
Sentence Structure
Sentences in general are a lot long and are run on sentences unlike “Nature” where they
were short and sharp.
Bibliography
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph Waldo Emerson
Prentice Hall, Literature, The American Experience
Spark notes
Cliff notes
English hand book