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.

NatureWritten

byRalph 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.

Diction-The 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.

Images-Waldo Emerson uses comparisons to get images across an example of this is

“A man casts off his years as a snake his slough”

Details-As 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”

Language-The 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 Structure-Sentences 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

WrittenBy

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”

DictionThe 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.

ImagesImages 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.

DetailsWaldo 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.

LanguageThe 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 StructureSentences 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 EmersonPrentice Hall, Literature, The American Experience

Spark notesCliff notes

English hand book