American Literature:

1. American Literature: Literary Eras and Authors Week Ten

2. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 Lecture Outline Emerson: an American Philosopher Nature Self-Reliance Resources

3. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 EmersonAn American Philosopher In his lifetime, Ralph Waldo Emerson became the most widely known man of letters in America, establishing himself as a prolific poet, essayist, popular lecturer, and an advocate of social reforms who was nevertheless suspicious of reform and reformers. Emerson�s enduring reputation, however, is as a philosopher, an aphoristic writer (like Friedrich Nietzsche) and a quintessentially American thinker whose championing of the American Transcendental movement and influence on Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, William James, and others would alone secure him a prominent place in American cultural history. Aphoristic, ??? Aphoristic, ???

4. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 EmersonAn American Philosopher Transcendentalism in America, of which Emerson was the leading figure, resembled British Romanticism in its precept that a fundamental continuity exists between man, nature, and God, or the divine. What is beyond nature is revealed through nature; nature is itself a symbol, or an indication of a deeper reality, in Emerson�s philosophy. Emerson is often characterized as an idealist philosopher and indeed used the term himself of his philosophy, explaining it simply as a recognition that plan always precedes action. For Emerson, all things exist in a ceaseless flow of change, and �being� is the subject of constant metamorphosis. Later developments in his thinking shifted the emphasis from unity to the balance of opposites: power and form, identity and variety, intellect and fate. Metamorphosis, n. ??,??,?? Metamorphosis, n. ??,??,??

5. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 EmersonAn American Philosopher Emerson remained throughout his lifetime the champion of the individual and a believer in the primacy of the individual�s experience. In the individual can be discovered all truths, all experience. For the individual, the religious experience must be direct and unmediated by texts, traditions, or personality. Central to defining Emerson�s contribution to American thought is his emphasis on non-conformity that had so profound an effect on Thoreau. Self-reliance and independence of thought are fundamental to Emerson�s perspective in that they are the practical expressions of the central relation between the self and the infinite. To trust oneself and follow our inner promptings corresponds to the highest degree of consciousness. non-conformity, 1. lack of harmony or correspondence 2. a lack of orthodoxy in thoughts or beliefs 3. unorthodoxy as a consequence of not conforming to expected standards or values 4. failure to conform to accepted standards of behavior non-conformity, 1. lack of harmony or correspondence 2. a lack of orthodoxy in thoughts or beliefs 3. unorthodoxy as a consequence of not conforming to expected standards or values 4. failure to conform to accepted standards of behavior

6. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 EmersonAn American Philosopher Emerson concurred with the German poet and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe that originality was essentially a matter of reassembling elements drawn from other sources. Not surprisingly, some of Emerson�s key ideas are popularizations of both European as well as Eastern thought. From Goethe, Emerson also drew the notion of �bildung,� or development, calling it the central purpose of human existence. From the English Romantic poet and critic Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Emerson borrowed his conception of �Reason,� which consists of acts of perception, insight, recognition, and cognition. The concepts of �unity� and �flux� that are critical to his early thought and never fully depart from his philosophy are basic to Buddhism: indeed, Emerson said, perhaps ironically, that �the Buddhist . . . is a Transcendentalist.� From his friend the social philosopher Margaret Fuller, Emerson acquired the perspective that ideas are in fact ideas of particular persons, an observation he would expand into his more general � and more famous � contention that history is biography. Concur, v. ????,??,?? 1. be in accord; be in agreement ???: agree, hold, concord 2. happen simultaneously ???: coincide Flux, n. ??,??,?? in constant change Contention, n. ??,??,????? Concur, v. ????,??,?? 1. be in accord; be in agreement ???: agree, hold, concord 2. happen simultaneously ???: coincide Flux, n. ??,??,?? in constant change Contention, n. ??,??,?????

7. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 EmersonAn American Philosopher Emerson�s work possesses deep original strains that influenced other major philosophers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche read Emerson in German translations and his developing philosophy of the great man is clearly influenced and confirmed by the contact. Writing about the Greek philosopher Plato, Emerson asserted that �Every book is a quotation . . . and every man is a quotation,� a perspective that foreshadows the work of French Structralist philosopher Roland Barthes. Emerson also anticipates the key Poststructuralist concept of differance found in the work of Jacques Derrida and Jacques Lacan � �It is the same among men and women, as among the silent trees; always a referred existence, an absence, never a presence and satisfaction.� While not progressive on the subject of race by modern standards, Emerson observed that the differences among a particular race are greater than the differences between the races, a view compatible with the social constructivist theory of race found in the work of contemporary philosophers like Kwame Appiah.

8. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 Chapter 1. Nature Concerned initially with how we reflect on solitude, the stars, and the grandeur of nature, this chapter turns from the universal world, symbolized in the stars that Emerson views at night, and focuses on how we perceive objects around us. Emerson speaks of the landscape in which he walks and how he, as a poet, can best integrate all that he sees. What is most important in this sequence is the similar ways we perceive the various objects�stars, the landscape, and the poet. Emerson�s gazing at stars is an example of nightly rediscovering the eternal�making each experience new�and continues the theme of progress from the introduction. Added to this theme is a second one, the theme of accessibility. Using stars as symbols of the universe, Emerson states that we take stars for granted because they are always present in our lives, no matter where we live. However, although they are accessible because we can see them, they are also inaccessible: Their distance from us makes them more elusive than we might imagine.

9. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 Chapter 1. Nature Emerson then moves from commenting on the faraway stars to discussing the immediate landscape around him. Creating a bond between stars and the landscape, he furthers the theme of a chain linking everything in the universe. Just as stars are accessible to all who will take the time to gaze at them, so too is the everyday landscape around us. Recalling the farms he sees while walking, Emerson encourages us to perceive nature as an integrated whole�and not merely as a collection of individual objects. He distinguishes between knowing who owns various farms and being able to see a unified landscape vista, of which the farms form but a single part. Claiming that the person who is most likely to see the whole of things is the poet, Emerson differentiates between the poet and other people: The poet, he says, is one of the few people who can see nature plainly, not superficially, as most of us do. In order for us to see nature plainly, we must cast off old ways of seeing. Here, again, the theme of casting off is present: Instead of the theories and the past (�the dry bones�) that Emerson said needed to be discarded, the person who yearns to see with new eyes must cast off years like a snake sheds its skin, revealing the child within. A child, Emerson says, accepts nature as it is rather than manipulating it into something it is not, as an adult would do.

10. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 Chapter 1. Nature Emerson states that when he himself stands in the woods, he feels the Universal Being flowing through him. This notion of the Universal Being, which he identifies with God, is what many readers identify as transcendentalism. Every object in nature, including each human, partakes of this animating life force; through it, all objects in nature are linked. However, Emerson suggests a paradoxical relationship when he writes, �I am nothing. I see all.� Finding oneself only by first losing oneself is a recurring�and puzzling�theme in much transcendental thinking. We must read many of Emerson�s ideas symbolically rather than literally, and, above all, we should remember the importance of his message and not get sidetracked by the images he uses to communicate his ideas. Finally, Emerson returns to the key idea in the poetic line of Plotinus: Nature does not have a personality that it alone devises. Humans, he says, who are paramount over nature, grant to it human characteristics we perceive it to have.

11. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 Paragraphs 1-17. Self-Reliance Emerson begins his major work on individualism by asserting the importance of thinking for oneself rather than meekly accepting other people�s ideas. As in almost all of his work, he promotes individual experience over the knowledge gained from books: �To believe that what is true in your private heart is true for all men�that is genius.� The person who scorns personal intuition and, instead, chooses to rely on others� opinions lacks the creative power necessary for robust, bold individualism. This absence of conviction results not in different ideas, as this person expects, but in the acceptance of the same ideas�now secondhand thoughts�that this person initially intuited. The lesson Emerson would have us learn? �Trust thyself,� a motto that ties together this first section of the essay. To rely on others� judgments is cowardly, without inspiration or hope. A person with self-esteem, on the other hand, exhibits originality and is childlike�unspoiled by selfish needs�yet mature. It is to this adventure of self-trust that Emerson invites us: We are to be guides and adventurers, destined to participate in an act of creation modeled on the classical myth of bringing order out of chaos.

12. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 Paragraphs 1-17. Self-Reliance Although we might question his characterizing the self-esteemed individual as childlike, Emerson maintains that children provide models of self-reliant behavior because they are too young to be cynical, hesitant, or hypocritical. He draws an analogy between boys and the idealized individual: Both are masters of self-reliance because they apply their own standards to all they see, and because their loyalties cannot be coerced. This rebellious individualism contrasts with the attitude of cautious adults, who, because they are overly concerned with reputation, approval, and the opinion of others, are always hesitant or unsure; consequently, adults have great difficulty acting spontaneously or genuinely.

13. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 Paragraphs 1-17. Self-Reliance Emerson now focuses his attention on the importance of an individual�s resisting pressure to conform to external norms, including those of society, which conspires to defeat self-reliance in its members. The process of so-called �maturing� becomes a process of conforming that Emerson challenges. In the paragraph that begins with the characteristic aphorism �Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist,� he asserts a radical, even extreme, position on the matter. Responding to the objection that devotedly following one�s inner voice is wrong because the intuition may be evil, he writes, �No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature . . . the only right is what is after my constitution, the only wrong what is against it.� In other words, it is better to be true to an evil nature than to behave �correctly� because of society�s demands or conventions.

14. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 Paragraphs 1-17. Self-Reliance The non-conformist in Emerson rejects many of society�s moral sentiments. For example, he claims that an abolitionist should worry more about his or her own family and community at home than about �black folk a thousand miles off,� 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. In a subdued, even gentle voice, Emerson states that it is better to live truly and obscurely than to have one�s goodness extolled in public. It makes no difference to him whether his actions are praised or ignored. The important thing is to act independently: �What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think . . . the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.� Note that Emerson contrasts the individual to society��the crowd��but does not advocate the individual�s physically withdrawing from other people. There is a difference between enjoying solitude and being a social hermit.

15. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 Paragraphs 1-17. Self-Reliance Outlining his reasons for objecting to conformity, Emerson asserts that acquiescing to public opinion wastes a person�s life. Those around you never get to know your real personality. Even worse, the time spent maintaining allegiances to �communities of opinion� saps the energy needed in the vital act of creation�the most important activity in our lives�and distracts us from making any unique contribution to society. Conformity corrupts with a falseness that pervades our lives and our every action: �. . . every truth is not quite true.� Finally, followers of public opinion are recognized as hypocrites even by the awkwardness and falsity of their facial expressions. Shifting the discussion to how the ideal individual is treated, Emerson notes two enemies of the independent thinker: society�s disapproval or scorn, and the individual�s own sense of consistency. Consistency becomes a major theme in the discussion as he shows how it restrains independence and growth.

16. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 Paragraphs 1-17. Self-Reliance Although the scorn of �the cultivated classes� is unpleasant, it is, according to Emerson, relatively easy to ignore because it tends to be polite. However, the outrage of the masses is another matter; only the unusually independent person can stand firmly against the rancor of the whole of society. The urge to remain consistent with past actions and beliefs inhibits the full expression of an individual�s nature. The metaphor of a corpse as the receptacle of memory is a shocking�but apt�image of the individual who is afraid of contradiction. In this vivid image of the �corpse of . . . memory,� Emerson asks why people hold onto old beliefs or positions merely because they have taken these positions in the past. Being obsessed with whether or not you remain constant in your beliefs needlessly drains energy�as does conformity�from the act of living. After all, becoming mature involves the evolution of ideas, which is the wellspring of creativity. It is most important to review constantly and to reevaluate past decisions and opinions, and, if necessary, to escape from old ideas by admitting that they are faulty, just as the biblical Joseph fled from a seducer by leaving his coat in her hands, an image particularly potent in characterizing the pressure to conform as both seductive and degrading.

17. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 Paragraphs 1-17. Self-Reliance Noteworthy in this discussion on consistency is the famous phrase �A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.� The term �hobgoblin,� which symbolizes fear of the unknown, furthers the effect produced by the �corpse� of memory and reinforces Emerson�s condemnation of a society that demands conformity. Citing cultures that traditionally frown on inconsistency, Emerson points out that history�s greatest thinkers were branded as outcasts for their original ideas�and scorned as such by their peers. Notable among these figures is Jesus Christ. What appears to be inconsistency is often a misunderstanding based on distortion or perspective. Emerson develops this idea by comparing the progress of a person�s thoughts to a ship sailing against the wind: In order to make headway, the ship must tack, or move in a zigzag line that eventually leads to an identifiable end. In the same way, an individual�s apparently contradictory acts or decisions show consistency when that person�s life is examined in its entirety and not in haphazard segments. We must �scorn appearances� and do what is right or necessary, regardless of others� opinions or criticisms.

18. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 Paragraphs 1-17. Self-Reliance Society is not the measure of all things; the individual is. �A true man,� Emerson�s label for the ideal individual, �belongs to no other time or place, but is the centre of all things. Where he is, there is nature.� Nature is not only those objects around us, but also our individual natures. And these individual natures allow the great thinker�the ideal individual�to battle conformity and consistency.

19. Lecture X, American Literature(1) Autumn 2007 Resources Nature, by Ralph Waldo Emerson Nature: An Introduction at CliffsNotes Self-Reliance, from Essays: First Series (1841) Self-Reliance: Understanding the essay A Graduation Paper: On Wordsworth and Emerson�s Conceptions of Nature Transcendentalism Notes