Course Code 9064

BS English Prose

Muhammad Afzal
PhD English Scholar
Unit 5: Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803
—1882)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882) 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.
As a philosopher, Emerson primarily makes use of two forms,
the essay and the public address or lecture. His career
began, however, with a short book, Nature, published
anonymously in 1836. Nature touches on many of the ideas
to which he would return to again and again over his lifetime.
 Major Works
• “The Divinity School Address,” also delivered at Harvard

in 1838, was considerably more controversial.

• Two of Emerson’s first non-occasional public lectures from

this early period contain especially important expressions

of his thought. Always suspicious of reform and reformers,

Emerson was yet an advocate of reform causes.

 Essays
• Emerson brought out his Essays: First Series, in 1841,
which contain perhaps his single most influential work,
“Self-Reliance”. Emerson’s style as an essayist, not
unlike the form of his public lectures, operates best at
the level of the individual sentence.
• His essays are bound together neither by their stated
theme nor the progression of argument, but instead by
the systematic coherence of his thought alone.
 Essays
• in 1844 Emerson published his Essays: Second Series,
eight essays and one public lecture, the titles indicating
the range of his interests: “The Poet,” “Experience,”
“Character,” “Manners,” “Gifts,” “Nature,” “Politics,”
“Nominalist and Realist,” and “New England Reformers”.
“The Poet” contains the most comprehensive statement
on Emerson’s aesthetics and art.
 English Traits
• It was published in 1856 but represented almost a decade of reflections

on an invited lecture tour Emerson made in 1847-48 to Great Britain.

English Traits presents an unusually conservative set of perspectives on

a rather limited subject, that of a single nation and “race” in place of

human civilization and humanity as a whole.

• English Traits contains an advanced understanding of race, namely, that

the differences among the members of a race are greater than the

differences between races, but in general introduces a few new ideas.

The work is highly “occasional” shaped by his travels and visits.

 The Conduct of Life (1860)
• This work proved to be a work of startling vigor and insight and is
Emerson’s last important work published in his lifetime. “Fate” is
arguably the central essay in the book.
• Fate is balanced in the essay by intellect: “So far as a man thinks, he is
free”. He refines and redefines his conception of history as the
interaction between “Nature and thought”. Emerson further refines his
conception of the great man.
 Writing Style of Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Ralph Waldo Emerson, a Transcendentalist, felt that the self is an

autonomous spirit which acts according to universal moral laws.
Located in all objects, this spiritual self develops from communion with
nature.
• Instead, he argues, "Nature always wears the colors of the spirit". For
the man, who is happy, there is a delight in nature, but for the man who
has just lost a friend, the "sky is less grand“.
• Thus, with Emerson's arguments, there is in Nature a recurring tension
between emotion and intellect. When he is more rational, Emerson
denies that nature has a soul, but when his emotion overwhelms him,
he endows nature with transcendence.
 Writing Style of Ralph Waldo Emerson
 In his essay Self-Reliance, Emerson makes use of many figures of
speech that compare abstract ideas with ordinary things or events.
 Emerson writes that "to be great is to be misunderstood," he alludes
to such greats as Pythagoras, Socrates, Luther, Copernicus,
Galileo, and Newton, who were all misunderstood. Because most of
Emerson's essays contain all of his major ideas, they may
sometimes seem to be without logical connection; however,
Emerson's central ideas are powerful and are always expressed
succinctly and with much insight.
 In fact, critics remark upon Emerson's masterful command of
common language.
 Form
• The essays of the English are short. But Emerson’s essays
are very long. His essays are as a vast treaty of nature in
which multitudes of argument and illustrations jostle one
another for existence. On the basis of their form, his essays
may be called Lectures.
• Some of them may be called treatises or orations. The body
of his essay is vast. It contains various topics under the main
title. The essay –‘The American Scholars’ covers about
fifteen pages. It discusses the duties of a scholar; it is in a
way American intellectual declaration of independence '.
 Loose Construction
• Emerson essays are loosely constructed. His paragraphs are not
based on any logical sequences. The points of his thought are not
related to one another by virtue of logical discussion. In 'the
American scholar' he tells first his readers that Americans should
know how to make declaration of literary independence.
• Then he tells that Heart of the American scholar should be a 'Man –
thinking’. Thereafter, he describes the influence upon the mind of
man. He was a great scholar. His vision was vast. As soon as he is
in a position to complete a paragraph a new vision comes up and
ideas form themselves into a circle.
 Philosophical Style
• Emerson style for writing essays is philosophical. He unites ---- "The word of phenomena
is lifted to the plane of principle". Further, "A Man should learn to detect and watch the
gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within Emerson’s vision draws
philosophical conclusions for the readers.
• He writes -- “Every thought is potent rather than purely reflective".
• Philosophical not Artistic: A member of critics is of the view that Emerson, the essayist
is not the artist. In the opinion of Spiller, Emerson is - “a writer who is artistic but not an
artist". Emerson is said to have got no sense of composition. He is accused of writing
loose sentences with no sense of syntax. When he starts elaborating his ideas, his
sense of form disappears and continuation becomes illogical, incoherence is the result of
it all. Emerson’s prose has something beautiful style, something daggling. A critic says
about his essays that they are - "a chaos full of shooting stars". To find his style, we may
conclude him as a great scholar as a great Thinker. He intended to give his reader the
maxim in a shorter time.
 Display of Wisdom
• His essays are replete with his wisdom. He was an intellectual, a deep
thinker and an eloquent speaker. His essays contain deep thoughts
which run to the readers for this personal rights. Thoreau, Emerson,
Whitman -- they were all good citizens of the nineteenth century and of
the west. In the back of their work, all three writers built on Native
American material and embodied American attitudes, specially the
concepts of individualism and self-reliance.
• Perhaps the most fitting commentary on their relationship to Indian
literature was made by Gandhi after reading Emerson’s essays: “The
essays to my mind contain the teaching of Indian wisdom in a western
‘genre’. It is interesting to see our own sometimes differently
fashioned.”
 Use of Metaphor

• In both Nature and The American Scholar Emerson advances the

theory that all language is based on physical images. For him,

etymology, the study of the history of words, traces words' meanings

back to original concrete pictures and actions. Especially in Nature, he

maintains that objects are a kind of language that represents spiritual

ideas; objects can be "read" for inspiration and understanding.

• Hence, it is no surprise to find that Emerson characteristically

expresses his ideas in vivid images and metaphors. The most dominant

of these include images of water, light and fire, and unity and

fragmentation.
 Over-Soul
• Emerson now focuses on how the Over-Soul unites
people and manifests itself in society. He asserts that
God's spirit is present in our every conversation: "In all
conversation between two persons, tacit reference is
made as to a third party, to a common nature.
• That third party is not social; it is impersonal; is God."
This presence is also evident in groups of people, who,
once recognizing its presence, act more nobly.
 Over-Soul
• The theme of accessibility plays a key role in this
common bond between us. Because each person
possesses an individual soul that is part of the Over-
Soul, all people — "the greatest person with the lowest"
— are aware of God when speaking with one another.
• The soul acts as our intermediary, but we do not mention
this bond when we converse, perhaps because language
cannot satisfactorily describe its existence.
 Over-Soul
• Touching on an important point that he discusses at greater length
in "Self-Reliance," Emerson implores us to "act entirely," without
consideration of what society thinks. We should act on our thoughts
before they are filtered through society's demands for normalcy and
consistency.
• Although God exists in every one of us, society's pressures cause
us to behave differently and unnaturally than God would have us
act; this disparity creates a rift between our souls and the Over-
Soul, which does not give partly of itself-as does the person who is
afraid of inconsistency — but wholly.
 Transcendentalism
• What people refer to as "transcendentalism" is really the long-known

philosophy called idealism. Throughout history, people have been

either materialists or idealists, a distinction that Emerson outlines with a
list of contrasts between materialistic and idealistic ways of thinking.

• Materialists demand facts and evidence; idealists live a more spiritual

life, attuned to imagination and intuition. Materialists insist on the

"animal wants of man"; idealists rely on "individual culture." Although
materialists can evolve into idealists, the reverse never happens: Once
idealists recognize the possibilities of a spiritual life, their continual
seeking of this transcendent state never allows them the complacency
of a purely material existence.
 Transcendentalism
• Idealists regard the world of the senses as less important than how the
mind processes those senses. Because each person looks at the world
differently, there is no single view that we can call true. Our existence,
idealists believe, is subjective, although people are always striving to
recognize what is ideal.
• Materialists, whom Emerson represents in the figures of a banker and a
stockbroker, depend on mathematics because it is more factual and
reliable than the imagination. The major deficiency of the materialists'
view is their failure to account for faith, which is not physically or
intellectually understandable.
 Transcendentalism
• Materialists and idealists relate to objects and people differently.
Materialists judge objects by appearance, size, and number: "larger" or
"more" means "better." Idealists form judgments according to personal
or intrinsic values, what Emerson terms "rank."
• They measure everything, including people, against standards they
individually hold, not against standards that society deems acceptable.
Rather than attempting to correct evil in the external world, idealists
argue that we should focus on correcting any immoral flaws in our own
individual moral characters.
 Transcendentalism
• One possible reason Emerson quotes Jacobi and shows the parallels between
his and other cultures' similar philosophies is to deflect criticism of
transcendentalism.
• He admits that there is no such thing as a pure transcendentalist: It is
impossible to live a totally spiritual life. His problem in "The Transcendentalist"
is not in defining what a transcendentalist is; his problem lies in convincing the
public that transcendence is a desirable — and attainable — quality.
• Transcendentalists come closest to this utopian spirituality. Examples are
found throughout history: In classical times, they were called Stoics; in the late
Middle Ages, Protestants and Ascetics; later, believers in pure spirituality were
Puritans and the Quakers; and in Emerson's America, they are the idealists.
 Transcendentalism
• Emerson reminds us that the term "transcendentalism" was first used
by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant. Contrary to the English
philosopher John Locke, who maintained that all knowledge
originates through our sensual impressions of the external world,
Kant argued that the mind itself has independent intuitions, which he
termed "transcendental.
• He notes the existence of intelligent and idealistic people who have
withdrawn from urban society to live solitary, unproductive lives.
Capable of great artistic achievement, these isolationists are afflicted
with a strange inertia, or passivity.
 Transcendentalism
• Emerson asks what is to blame for this situation. He compares the
passive character of these individuals, who have openly shunned
society, to the highly spiritual nature he has already described in the
essay: Transcendentalists have difficulty relating to people because
they are so spiritually refined that ordinary life cannot satisfy their
wants.
• They may be lonely, but evidently they feel that human conversation
has nothing to offer them: "They wish a just and even fellowship, or
none. They cannot gossip with you, and they do not wish, as they are
sincere and religious.
 Transcendentalism
• Lest we judge idealism too harshly, Emerson offers a more positive
critique of idealists. These apparently indifferent and detached
individuals are troubled by society's failures and shortcomings, but
they are also sensitive to their own moral lapses. This awareness can
produce extreme depression, even to the point of wanting to die in
order to relieve the burden of such a finely tuned sensitivity.
• Idealists' superior intuitions never let them forget just how far they have
fallen short of their ideals, and their righteousness prevents them from
taking on tasks that they know they cannot do well. Hence, the ennui,
the apparent indecisiveness, and the seeming passivity — all of which
disturb the idealists as much as the society that observes them
 Conclusion
• To conclude this unit, it is really a worth reading unit as it
not only familiarizes the readers with the personality and
prose style of one of the Master Prose writers but also it
is a worth spending time to read on account of it being
replete with practical doctrines, philosophical ideas and
wisdom, of Emerson, to spend one’s life in a successful
manner.
 Summary Points
• Ralph Waldo Emerson, a popular American prolific writer and essayist
was throughout a champion of the individual as well as that of the
American Transcendental movement and hence influenced Walt
Whitman, Henry David Thoreau and William James.
• Emerson is characterized as an idealist philosopher with the thought of
plan always preceding action.
• There was a shift in his later ideology from unity to the balance of
opposites: power and form, identity and variety, intellect and fate.
• Emerson’s first publication was Essays: First Series (1841), containing
his single most influential work, “Self-Reliance”.
• Emerson, a philosopher-poet, employs a coherent, figurative and
rhetorical style in writing his essays.
 Summary Points
• In 1844 Emerson published his Essays: Second Series, eight essays
and one public lecture, containing: “The Poet,” “Experience,” “Character,”
“Manners,” “Gifts,” “Nature,” “Politics,” “Nominalist and Realist,” and
“New England Reformers”.
• His other famous essay publications include English Traits (1856),The
Conduct of Life (1860).
• To add to it, Emerson’s prose writing style is composed lengthy form,
incoherent construction, philosophical not artistic style, display of
wisdom, focus on transcendent, use of metaphors and various images of
water, light, fire, unity, fragmentation and that of nature.
• ‘Over _ Soul’ and ‘Transcendentalism’ are his popular essays.