Ralph Waldo Emerson

1803-1882

I. Introduction to the writer

1.1. Life experience (reference to p419) 1.2. Principles of Emerson’s transcendentalism 1.2.1. The over-soul: The “over-soul” as called by

Emerson was an all-pervading unitary spiritual power of goodness, omnipresent and omnipotent, from which all things came and of which everyone was a part. Generally, the over-soul referred to spirit of God as the most important thing in the universe.

1.2.2. Primacy of Individual: Individual was the most important element of society. As the regeneration of society could only come about through the regeneration of the individual, his perfection, his self-culture and self-improvement, and not the frenzied effort to get rich, should become the first concern of his life. (It was a reaction against the Calvinist concept that man is totally depraved, he is sinful and can not hope to be saved except through the grace of God.)

1.2.3. Primacy of Nature: Symbolic of the Spirit or God /Garment of the over-soul

Transcendentalism refers to a kind of attitude that believes in the recognition in man of the capacity of knowing truth intuitively, or of attaining knowledge transcending the reach of the senses. In another word, transcendentalists believe that man learns things not only through reasoning based on his five senses, or by his own sensual experiences, and that he also learns truth spontaneously, out of his soul or instincts. (to be continued)

In a literal sense, it means the belief that knowledge and principles of reality can be obtained by studying thought, not necessarily by practical experiences. In this sense the term is almost synonymous with the word mysticism. It was first applied to the German philosophical systems of Hegel, Kant, and Fichte. Later the word came to be used more loosely to apply to a movement that began in New England around 1830, the spokesman of which was Ralph Waldo Emerson.

1.3. Major works

Nature (1836): “The Universe is composed of Nature and the Soul, Spirit is present everywhere” The book presents a theory of the universe, its origin, present condition, and final destiny. Nature’s voice pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England Transcendentalism, the summit of American Romanticism/ American Renaissance.

The American Scholar (1837): In this essay, Emerson calls for a distinctive American style, dealing with American subjects. Thus, regarded as “America’s Declaration of Intellectual Independence”

Self-Reliance (1841): This essay focuses on his discussion on the individual’s relation’s with his culture—culture in the broadest definition, thus exploring the implications of the fierce individualism at the heart of his Transcendental faith: the dignity, the ultimate sanctity[holiness] of each human being.

The Over-Soul (1841): It is a philosophic work, in which Emerson gives an explicit discussion on his idea of the over-soul, with a most comprehensive and sensitive analysis of the varieties of religious experience.

II. Appreciation of the work

2.1. The main idea of the work (reference to p423) 2.2. Understanding the excerpt

2.3. Analysis of the work

2.3.1. Mode of perception (感知方式 ) a. Self-reliance（自助） Emerson’s real task as a writer is to demonstrate a

way of seeing in which the individual eye, free of the constraints of history or culture, achieves ultimate meaning through its own perception of the sensible data of the world.

b. Symbolic vision（象征主义观） For Emerson, the external world, that is, nature and

the whole universe, is the embodiment of the internal or the spiritual world.

2.3.2. Poetic language One of the most conspicuous (salient) features

of his writing is the use of poetic lg. He skillfully uses some figures of speech, such as metaphors and similes, to drive home the comparisons he wants to make; symbols, images, are widely used to make clear and vivid his metaphysical discussion of the over-soul, the Spirit, nature, and the individual man.

2.3.3. General issues（主要论点） What Emerson tries to exemplify in this part of the essay

is essentially a vision of nature as symbolic, in which the eye has pierced the veil of surfaces to discover the organic unity of Being（存在） . Emerson’s identity is not wholly dissolved; he becomes part or parcel of God in the act of perception. Nor is nature dissolved. It remains itself, but transparent and meaningful.

Another important issue is the preference of the present over the past. In his opinion, man, to know better, should free himself of the past and brush aside all intermediaries (media) of church or law or custom. In another word, man should trust himself, rely on himself for a true perception of the universe.

2.3.4. Symbolic lg Since Emerson’s vision of nature is a symbol,

the lg he uses is symbolic. He refers to the past as “dry bones”, or “faded wardrobe”; he thinks of the mind of the poet as an organic living tree; for Emerson, nature is fully alive in response to man’s sensitivities. The most remarkable image that suggests Emerson’s symbolic method of perception is his ingenious (original) use of a transparent eyeball.

III. Comment on Emerson’s Transcendentalism 3.1. Significance Therefore, transcendentalism can be best understood as

a somewhat late and localized manifestation of romantic movement in literature and philosophy. The triumph of intuition over five senses, the exaltation of the individual over society, the critical attitude toward formalized religion, the rejection of any kind of restraint or bondage to custom, the new and thrilling delight in nature --- all these were in some measure characteristic of transcendentalism. These ideas also inspired English poets Wordsworth and Coleridge as well as many German idealist philosophers.

Transcendentalism was also an ethical guide to life for a young nation of America. It preached the positive life and appealed to the best side of human nature.

New England Transcendentalism is important to American literature at least for two reasons. On the one hand, it is represented by two major writers of the country----Emerson and Thoreau. On the other hand, a new group of writers under the influence of Emerson and Thoreau began to apply transcendental ideas in their works.

3.2. Weaknesses The transcendentalist movement had a small

membership and only lasted for a few years, but it has exerted great impact in the country. As time passes, the term “Transcendentalism” has lost its derogatory sense and become the condensation of American romantic movement in literature of the period. Transcendentalism, however, was never a systematic philosophy.