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Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803–1882 As the Acknowledged Leader of the Duties As a Minister

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Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803–1882 As the Acknowledged Leader of the Duties As a Minister The 4RANSCENDENTALISTS FRom Self-RELIANCe READING 2A Analyze the wAY FRom NaTURe in which the theme or meaning Of a selection rEPRESENts a vieW ESSAYs by Ralph Waldo Emerson or cOMMENT on the human Condition. RC–11(B) MakE VIDEO TRAILER KEYWORD: HML11-368A COMPLEx infERENCes about TEXT and use TExtual eVIDENCe TO SUPPORT understanding. -EET the AUTHOR Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803–1882 As the acknowledged leader of the duties as a minister. In 1832, after much transcendentalists, Ralph Waldo Emerson, consideration, Emerson resigned his post. poet, essayist, and lecturer, was a towering DId You know? The VOICe of TRANSCENDENtalism Follow- figure in the 19th-century literary world. Ralph Waldo Emerson . ing his wife’s death, Emerson settled in He helped shape a new, uniquely American • ENTERed HarVARd when Concord, Massachusetts, and devoted body of literature and is often cited as one he was only 14. himself to the study of philosophy, of the most significant writers in American • Was named class poet aT religion, and literature. In 1836 Emerson history. “All life is an experiment,” the HarVARd—but only after published Nature, in which he eloquently radical thinker and writer once said. “The SEVen other students articulated his transcendental philosophy, had refused the honor. more experiments you make, the better.” an outgrowth of European romanticism. NaTURe, • published one of An AVERAGe StudenT Emerson was born That same year, Emerson formed the his most famous wORKS, in Boston, Massachusetts. His father, a Transcendental Club with a group of like- ANONYMOUSLY. prominent Unitarian minister, died when minded friends, including Henry David Emerson was eight, plunging the family Thoreau and Margaret Fuller. Nature, into financial trouble. Although money was with its emphasis on self-reliance and tight, funds were found to enroll Emerson individuality, became the group’s unofficial at Harvard. When he graduated in 1821, manifesto. ranked 30th out of a class of 59, there The Sage of CONCORd Those who met Old North Bridge, CONCORd, was little indication thathat Emerson would MMassachusettsASSACHUSETTS Emerson in person often thought him ssoonoon become one ooff the most celebrated a rather stiff and formal person, dressed lliteraryiterary figures of aalll time. always in black. He reserved his passion SSpiritualpiritual Crisis In 1825, Emerson for the page and the podium, where he rreturnedeturned to HaHarvardr to study for elaborated upon his ideas in essays and a tthehe Unitarian mministry and was series of popular lectures. By the 1840s oordainedrdained in 181829.2 Just over a year the Sage of Concord, as he was known, llater,ater, his belovbeloveded wife, Ellen, died had become a major literary force whose ooff tuberculosis. EEllen’sl death threw influence is still evident in American EEmersonmerson into a statstatee of spiritual crisis, culture today. ccausingausing him to qquestionu many aspects ooff the Christian tradition and his Author Online Go To THINKCENTRal.cOM. KEYWORD: HML11-368B 368 literary analysis: transcendentalism Ralph Waldo Emerson’s motto was “Trust thyself.” This principle lies at the heart of transcendentalism, an intellectual movement that emphasized the dignity of the individual and What is your advocated a simple, mindful life. The transcendentalists, led motto by Emerson himself, wanted to transcend—or go beyond—the ? limitations of the senses and everyday experience. Key tenets The ancient Roman poet Horace gravely of transcendentalism include advised, “Never despair.” Modern • a theory that “transcendent forms” of truth exist beyond comedian Woody Allen quipped that the reason and experience; every individual is capable of secret to success in life is simple: “Eighty discovering this truth on his or her own, through intuition percent of success is showing up.” Each • a conviction that people are inherently good and should of these mottos captures an individual’s follow their own beliefs, however controversial they may be attitude toward life in one pithy phrase. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s motto, “Trust • a belief that humankind, nature, and God are all thyself,” distills the essence of the ideals interconnected he expressed in his essays and lectures. As you read, consider how Emerson’s writing articulates his QUICKWRITE Create your own personal belief in the importance of the individual as well as his ideas motto. To get started, consider the traits about humankind’s relationship to the natural world. or resources that helped you solve a difficult problem, or the best advice reading skill: identify theme you have ever given a friend. Use your Theme is the underlying message or the central idea of a work, answers to develop a personal motto which can be stated in one sentence. Usually, writers do not that is short and to the point. state the theme directly; instead, readers must make inferences based on clues in the text. As you read “Self-Reliance” and Nature, record your inferences about each work’s theme in a chart like the one below. Theme of “Self-Reliance” Theme of Nature vocabulary in context Emerson uses these words to state his convictions. Test your knowledge by deciding which word is suggested by each phrase. word aversion exhilaration nonconformist list decorum importune occult 1. a food you do not like 3. a well-behaved crowd 2. a race you have just won 4. a nagging younger sibling Complete the activities in your Reader/Writer Notebook. 369 TX_L11PE-u02s31-brSel.indd 369 8/31/09 11:47:03 AM Self-Reliance RALPH WALDO EMERSON TEKS 2B THEME AND GENRE: TEXT STRUCTURE The expository and reflective text-structures of “Self-Reliance” contrasts sharply with the narrative structure of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie’s 2007 novel. Although the essay structure contrasts with Alexie’s narrative, the narrator’s reflection echoes the reflective structure of Emerson’s essay. Like Emerson, he struggles to find his own unique path apart from the conventional expectations. There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that Analyze Visuals envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better What elements of for worse as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel transcendentalism are reflected in the painting of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of on the opposite page? ground which is given to him to till. Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection a THEME of events. Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to Re-read the ideas in lines 1 1–11. Based on these lines, the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy what inferences can you 2 10 was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all make about the theme of their being. a this selection? Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms3 must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore nonconformist (nJnQkEn-fôrPmGst) n. if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. one who does not follow Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage4 of the world. I remember generally accepted beliefs, an answer which when quite young I was prompted to make to a valued adviser customs, or practices 1. the absolutely trustworthy: God. 2. predominating: being predominant, or having controlling influence. 3. immortal palms: everlasting triumph and honor. In ancient times, people carried palm leaves as a symbol of victory, success, or joy. 4. suffrage: approval; support. Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog (1818), Caspar David Friedrich. Oil on 370 unit 2: american romanticism canvas, 94.8 cm × 74.8 cm. TX_L11PE-u02s31-Selff.indd 370 9/22/09 7:57:44 AM who was wont to importune me with the dear old doctrines of the church. On my IMPORtune (GmQpôr-tLnP) saying, “What have I to do with the sacredness of traditions, if I live wholly from v. To ask urGENtly or within?” my friend suggested—“But these impulses may be from below, not from REPEATEDLY; To annoy or TROUBLE 20 above.” I replied, “They do not seem to me to be such; but if I am the Devil’s child, I will live then from the Devil.” No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution;5 the only wrong what is against it. B B 42!.3#%.$%.4!,)3- What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This TRANSCENDENtalists rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole BELIEVed in disrEGARding 6 External authority in FAVor distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder because you will Of one’s own eXPERIENCe always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. and intuition. WhaT is It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live implied by the wORd after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with SACRED in line 21? 30 C perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. C '2!--AR AND S49,% For nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure. And therefore Emerson adds detail and a man must know how to estimate a sour face. The by-standers look askance on PRecision To his writing by him in the public street or in the friend’s parlor.
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