Emerson continues on in his criticism. ... Emerson's and Thoreau's ideal school would be a school based on transcendentalism, and nature. Transcendentalism is the belief or doctrine asserting the existence of an ideal spiritual reality that transcends the empirical and scientific and is knowable through intuition. ... They would be in nature, at one with nature, "sucking the marrow out of life." ... The went beyond merely understanding nature to achieving a kind of passionate identity with it. ...

• Word Count: 1130
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Nature, according to Emerson, existed in the physical world, art, and the body. ... In Nature, Emerson makes reference to a "transparent eyeball" (Emerson, PG?) ... I like his wild and genuine belief in the [Spiritual] and the inrushes he got from it" (Harris, 292). ... In Nature, Emerson rejects traditional institutionalized religion arguing that it separates people and denounces nature. ... Religious critics took his writing as a serious threat to their strong beliefs. ...

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." - Ralph Waldo Emerson A Condensation of Its Context Toward the end of his notebook, "Naturalist," Ralph Waldo Emerson entered sentence (dated 1853) that marks a symbolic vision of nature familiar to his readers and, in more recent years, of concern to his ecologically minded critics: "He is the richest who has most use for nature as raw material of tropes and symbols with which to describe his life." (2) One can see why the tradition of reading Emerson's nature writing and environmental aesthetics in sharp contrast with Henry David Thoreau's--Thoreau viewed as "Emerson's ea...

• Word Count: 9971
• Approx Pages: 40
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Emerson and Thoreau were Transcendentalists who expressed their beliefs through writings from poems to essays and they believed that "the individual was at the center of the universe" (Prentice Hall). ... First, Emerson's beliefs were mainly on "the human mind [because it] was the most important force in the universe" (Prentice Hall). In "Nature", Emerson viewed nature as the plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign. God made nature and some view it as just trees, leaves, and grass, but Emerson saw the true beauty in nature. ... Next, Thoreau, the pro...

• Word Count: 1042
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Emerson, Thoreau, and Dickinson, were one of the many people who were Transcendentalist; these writers went out of their way in society to represent their beliefs. Emerson's beliefs were mainly on "the human mind [because it] was the most important force in the universe" (Prentice Hall 384). In "Nature", Emerson viewed nature as "[the] plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign, [and] a perennial festival dressed" (Emerson 388). God made nature and some view it as just trees, leaves, grass, etc., but Emerson saw the true beauty in nature. ... They left...

• Word Count: 909
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Transcendentalism Essay " Transcendentalism is the belief that man can intuitively transcend the limits of the sense's and logic to receive higher truths and greater knowledge." ... These two men are Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Some of the elements of transcendentalism include how man should live close to nature. ... Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau both had the same beliefs, they both believed in individuality. ... Also, Emerson believed that live should be lived in Simplicity. ...

• Word Count: 309
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

The Transcendentalists were characterized by a belief in the doctrine that there existed an ideal spiritual reality that transcends the empirical and scientific and is knowable only through intuition. ... In opposition to Emerson's belief of conformity as negative, that the conformist will be "clapped into jail by his own consciousness" (21), conformity is a necessary characteristic of man developed to avoid very real dangers. ... Emerson claims that "No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. ... With this boldness he dares to suggest that societal rules and laws are completely se...

• Word Count: 1633
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

One of the most influential pieces of literature that Ralph Waldo Emerson composed is Nature. ... In Nature, Emerson challenges the accepted enlightenment views and declares that nature speaks "directly to the self, [and] to the individual mind and soul" (Ruland 119). ... (Baym 217) Throughout the book, Emerson discusses the importance of nature and its relationship to man. According to Emerson, both nature and man are necessary because one is needed in order to understand the other. ... Emerson stresses the inexplicable fulfillment that man can glean from nature. ...

• Word Count: 1963
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

This is similar to Aristotle's dictum "know thyself"; - transcendentalists accepted the neo-Platonic conception of nature as a living mystery, full of signs - nature is symbolic; - the belief that individual virtue and happiness depend upon self-realization - this depends upon the reconciliation of two universal psychological tendencies: a) the expansive or self-transcending tendency-a desire to embrace the whole world - to know and become one with the world. ... One of the clearest statements of the ideas of Transcendentalism was presented by Ralph Waldo Emerso...

• Word Count: 1093
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

is a portrayal of his beliefs of how cowardly war is. ... He used his talents to express his political beliefs. ... Ralph Waldo Emerson developed Transcendentalism. He wrote his famous essay "Nature" during this time. ... Emerson believed that there are things that one can never really know. ...

• Word Count: 939
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

"If a plant cannot live according to his nature, it dies; and so a man" (Emerson, Civil Disobedience, 260). ... Your nature. ... It is supposed to be what fits that beings experiences, ideas, beliefs, truths, and ideals. ... Emerson and Thoreau were very innovative men. ... For, as Emerson said, "If a plant cannot live according to his nature, it dies; and so a man" (Emerson, Civil Disobedience, 260)....

• Word Count: 1271
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

He supported this concept that we should rely on our own intuition and beliefs. ... One must have confidence and belief in oneself... Emerson states this to further illustrate his belief in the negativity of conformity. ... As most transcendentalists would say, to do what is against human nature is to violate the laws of Nature. ... Conformity with society has disabled this aspect of human nature, and I feel that it is something that needs to be addressed. ...

• Word Count: 991
• Approx Pages: 4

Everyone has a different mind and different beliefs. ... By the glories of nature, the Transcendentalists meant that nature had a lot to offer and that it should not be taken lightly. ... I agree with him in this aspect of the beliefs of the Transcendentalists because I too think that nature is glorious and that it is better left untouched and uninterrupted by people. My ultimate belief is that nature is glorious and if it is left alone, it may prosper without interference. ... An example of this according to the Transcendentalists is in Emerson's short story Self-Reliance. ...

• Word Count: 543
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

Cut through the all of the social mores and beliefs that have jaded our view on this wonderful world in which we live. ... In this passage from Ralph Waldo Emerson's Nature, Emerson explains to us that we cannot chase the beauty of nature. ... When we search for the beauty in nature it will always elude us. ... These are the true beauties of nature. ... I think that is partly what Emerson was getting at, the magic. ...

• Word Count: 2158
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

Walt Whitman was a follower of the two Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. He believed in Emerson and Thoreau's Transcendentalist beliefs. ... In conclusion, I conclude that Whitman's poems really do express his transcendental beliefs. ... He used great similes and metaphors to pinpoint his beliefs. Also, his frequent use of cataloging, parallelism, and free verse contributed to his beliefs. ...

• Word Count: 617
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

These traits and beliefs can be found in scenes such as when Ellen and Henry are on the boat, when Waldo hires Thoreau, and When Henry is arrested. ... In this scene we see Henry's love for nature and his belief in simplicity.One can see that Henry is concerned for nature he says, "We're poisoning paradise. ... In this scene we see Henry's outstanding ability to teach, his patience, and his love for nature. A few traits of Henry David Thoreau are demonstrated in the scene in which Emerson hires Henry. ... This scene reveals Henry's lack of desire for money, and the...

• Word Count: 1091
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Mechanization changed the nature of work and the role of labor. ... Emerson too, was very influential in Thoreau's writings. On the advice of Emerson, Thoreau started keeping a journal. ... Later, Ralph Emerson, in a letter to William Emerson, wrote, "Thoreau is a scholar & a poet & as full of buds of promise as a young apple tree" (Petrulionis 15). ... In "Civil Disobedience", "Walden", and "Walking" Thoreau effectively conveys his belief that conscience be the driving force of each mans conduct and the importance of an individual's relationsh...

• Word Count: 2159
• Approx Pages: 9
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Cut through the all of the social mores and beliefs that have jaded our view on this wonderful world in which we live. ... In this passage from Ralph Waldo Emerson's Nature, Emerson explains to us that we cannot chase the beauty of nature. ... When we search for the beauty in nature it will always elude us. ... These are the true beauties of nature. ... I think that is partly what Emerson was getting at, the magic. ...

• Word Count: 2158
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau was a man who expressed his beliefs of society, government, and mankind while living under his own self-criticism. ... The first paragraph of his essay, "Walking," reads "I wish to speak a word for nature, for absolute freedom and wilderness, as a contrast with a freedom and a culture merely civil-to regard man as an inhabitant, or part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of society. ... The most important friend he made was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson first befriended Thoreau in the fall of 1837 soon after his graduation from Harvard (Mil...

• Word Count: 2638
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Few were educated due to the prevalent belief that women didn't have the capacity to learn and that women were predestined to lives of domestic servitude. ... "Although he paid lip-service to a firm belief in the equality of the sexes, it was not in his character to treat his wife as a partner with rights equal to his own" (Wade 5). ... Fuller's affiliation with men like Ralph Waldo Emerson (who became her lifelong friend), Bronson Alcott, George Ripley and William Ellery Channing initiated her into the new world of so-called Transcendentalists. ... In 1840, the Transcendentalist ...

• Word Count: 2090
• Approx Pages: 8