Nature (Introduction and Chapter I, Pp

Nature (Introduction and Chapter I) Ralph Waldo Emerson

I. Read Emerson’s Introduction (in your packet).

II. The following questions refer to Chapter I.

1. Emerson wants his audience to look at some of the commonest elements of their lives – the natural environment that they see everyday – in a new way. How would our attitude toward the stars change if they appeared only once every thousand years?

2. The second paragraph makes clear that Emerson is using the stars as an attention-getting example for a point about nature. What point is he making?

3. “To speak truly,” Emerson says, “few adult persons can see nature.” He says that children somehow have the advantage over adults in this matter. Read carefully the paragraph that begins with that sentence. What do adults seem to lose as they grow older?

4. What do you think Emerson means by a “poetical sense” of looking at nature? What images illustrate the distinction between nature used for practical benefits and nature viewed in this poetic way? 5. The most famous passage in Nature, and perhaps all of Emerson’s work, begins, “Standing on the bare ground. . .” and ends, “I am part or parcel of God.” In wat way is the image of a “transparent eyeball” a description of the visionary experience of God? Describe the relation here between people, nature, and God. According to Emerson, is God to be found only in nature, only in people, or in some common element that they both share?

6. Describe your response to Emerson’s essay. Cite the passages you found yourself agreeing with and those you are doubtful about. (You may mark these in your book, but be prepared to describe why you selected them.)

Emerson’s epigrammatic sentences are justly famous. One aspect of his style that is often overlooked, though, is his use of paradox, the linking of seemingly contradictory elements (as in the expression from Romeo and Juliet: “Parting is such sweet sorrow.”) Read the following sentences from Nature and explain their use of paradox. How would you express each statement in your own words?

1. “I am not solitary while I read and write, though nobody is with me.”

2. “But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.”

3. “Most persons do not see the sun.”

4. “I am glad to the brink of fear.”

One of the roots of Emerson’s Transcendentalist thought is to be found in the Puritan view of the relations between God, people, and nature. Read Jonathan Edwards’s description of his experience of a thunderstorm (see our class website), and compare it to Emerson’s description of nature. What similarities do you find? What differences?