How do you know? How did you learn what you know? Emerson portrays the American scholar as a person who learns from three sources. These sources by which a scholar is educated are nature, books and action. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American scholar is one whose character is split into many facets.
Nature has the most influence on the mind because it is the only resource that is everywhere. In it's natural form or altered by man everything is nature. Nature is like a circle with no beginning and no ending; "Everyday, the sun; and, after sunset, night and her stars. Ever the wind blows; ever the grass grows." Its presence is always available to anyone; through sight, smell, sound, or touch we experience nature. Actions so simple, yet with any un-experienced moment we have not learned instead we have, "a loss of power." Nature is so plentiful even with every moment experienced fully we can always learn more. When I go hiking there is so much around me that I simply cannot take in; the way the trees move when the wind blows, the pattern on the leaves, the mosaic of roots by my feet. No matter how hard we try we can never know everything; however, that shouldn't keep us from attempting. Nature is an important resource to the scholar because it is the first thing that we learn from. "To the young mind everything is individual, stands by itself." As we mature we begin organizing these small pieces, putting them into groups. Small children are a typical example of this; always trying to figure things out with their eyes wide open and lots of questions at the ready. Nature, helps us build and broaden our view of the world. As Emerson says, "geometry, a pure abstraction of the human mind, is the measure of planetary motion." We realize when all these singular pieces come together we see nature, a compilation of what we have been learning and putting together since birth. The scholar takes this classification a step further; seeing nature and all it's levels of classification as visual representation of the thoughts in our mind.
In the essay the American Scholar, Emerson portrays the scholar as a person who learns from three main things. ... The action of the scholar is important to Emerson. "Action is with the scholar subordinate, but it is essential. ... "(299) Emerson wants the scholar to learn but question everything. "The true scholar grudges every opportunity of action past by, as a loss of power...
Greeley is a respected scholar and upon reading his book it becomes obvious he is also a skilled writer. ... For scholars of American history, religion and sociology the work provides insight into a largely overlooked issue in this country. As to his thesis Greeley's abundance of anecdotal evidence both of well documented events in American history, and of more contemporary events go a long way to persuading the reader that their certainly is a serious issue at hand here, if not perhaps far enough to prove it. ...
In the excerpt we read from Ralph Waldo Emerson's The American Scholar, it seemed as though Emerson's main goal was to create an extremely complex and overly-wordy written piece to confuse the reader. ... Emerson begins the passage by stating, "The next great influence into the spirit of the scholar is the mind of the Past.... Emerson clearly believes in the importance of creativity, and he displays this belief in his book The American Scholar. ...
The prompt was a simple paragraph explaining what was expected in a fully developed two-page essay on the early Puritans and their plight that eventually led them to America. ... It took a difficult course, a disciplined mind, and my over achieving ambitions to become conscious of a scholar that lived within. ...
Many scholars have tried to give a definition of what religion truly is but many detailed definitions have been proven to be false in different societies. ... One such scholar was Karl Marx who although know for the creation of communism also gave an explanation of religion. ... Each scholar tried to use their concepts of what religion is in order to try and prove their theories on social matters. ... Many scholars of his time had showed concern that society was becoming immoral as a result of the loss of religion. ... Although this holds some truth to it, How would he expl...
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote "The American Scholar" about his concerns and ideas about the education of his day. His concerns were justifiable, because there were many problems with the education systems in the mid 19th century. Although many improvements have been made and remedies considered over t...
African American Literature is a composite of many different life stories and experiences African Americans have had to endure throughout a lifetime. ... Brown, Jean Toomer, Zora Neal Hurston, Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Maya Angelou and the list goes on to include newer African American authors and scholars such as Cornell West, Toni Morrison and Nikki Giovanni. ... Washington were the most acknowledged leaders of African Americans during this time, and their opposing views is what separated them as scholars. ... Harper is one of the very seldom talked about African Ame...
"I prefer to try to tell the story of the discovery of America from the viewpoint of the Arawaks, of the Constitution from the standpoint of the slave, of Andrew Jackson as seen by the Cherokees . . . the postwar American empire as seen by peons in Latin America." ... One of the darkest, most controversial, and least talked about moments in American history is the Vietnam War. ... The unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese brought America into the war. ... While Zinn points out that America was the aggressor in the past, I point out that it is not America who invaded Ethiopia, ma...
