Ralph Waldo Emerson - Apuntes 11 PDF

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critical commentary on his life, works and excerpt....

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RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-1882) WORKS: Nature (1836)/”Hamatreya” (1847) GENRE: Essay: philosophy (Transcendentalism)/Poetry: fusion of everyday and universal truths. PERIOD: American Renaissance. BELIEFS: Culture based on direct contact with nature. Reluctant to join philosophical systems and organizations. Transcendentalism. He finds defects on historical Christianity Questioned the authority of established institutions and the Bible. Individual experience more important than dogma and rituals. He had great religious strength. Unitarian: believed in essential goodness and salvation extended to everyone. Rejected fearful Calvinist doctrines. MORAL: liberal ideas: Supported antislavery (as a moral wrong), Native American movement, women’s rights. INFLUENCES: Romanticism/ Transcendentalism /Locke and his tabula rasa/ Swedish philosopher Swedenborg/Different cultures (Hindu). THEMES: individualism and self-reliance/ Nature /The truth is inside each individual person. It cannot be received second hand. /Hamatreya: material vs. spiritual; reality vs. illusion; transience vs. permanence AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ELEMENTS: preacher, essayist, lecturer, poet…. He owned land/He walked woods. PURPOSE: To encourage people to question ideas, institutions from the past and experiment new ones; searching originality. AUDIENCE: The general public. Young Americans. POINT OF VIEW: Use of the first-person singular pronoun. STYLE: Flexible, irregularities, his expression tends to abstraction; priority to content over form. TONE: Hopeful/ Critical/ Encouraging. SELF-REPRESENTATION: He wanted to be seen as an experimenter, questioner and seeker (rather than a guide for other to follow). NARRATIVE MODES: Description and comment. RHETORICAL DEVICES: imagery in his sermons, Nature: Metaphor: transparent eye-ball. “Hamatreya”: paradox; broken lines into stanzas; change in diction (formal); irony; alliteration (west, wind). Simple images of ordinary life were the most powerful to convey general ideas. Experimented with line length. Emerson is one of the great writers of the American Renaissance. The Immense popularity he already enjoyed in his lifetime was mainly due to the attraction that many of his fellow citizens felt for the liberal ideas he passionately propounded. Still concerned about their intellectual dependence upon the European past, they welcomed his proposal to construct a new culture based upon direct contact with nature, hoping that an unmediated approach to the beautiful scenery of their own country would set them free from any oppressive foreign domination. He actively helped a number of his contemporary writers through practical advice, personal connections, financial support and editorial efforts. He always represented himself as an experimenter, a questioner and a seeker, rather than a guide signalling the path for everyone to follow. He was a proponent of the philosophical and literary movement called Transcendentalism. He gradually developed scepticism toward Christianity and had increasing trouble accepting the authority of the Bible. Having analysed his own emotions, he reached the conclusion that the individual religious experiences of each person were much more important than the dogma and ritual of religious institutions.

Nature (1836), showed the influence of idealistic philosophies and manifested a way of thinking which would be labelled Transcendentalism. Emerson himself credited Kant with the invention of the term to describe the idealism of his time, in opposition to the empiricism of Locke, who regarded the mind of a person at birth as a tabula rassa, whereas Kant believed that there were ideas or forms which did not come by experience, but were intuitions of the mind itself, and he called them ‘transcendental forms’. Nature became the founding document or manifesto for the symposium of friends who would be known by the name of the Transcendental Club. The members of the Club were dissatisfied with the contemporary American establishment and considered themselves as the renewals of spiritual life, whereas most conservatives regarded Transcendentalism as dangerous to the church, to all forms of organized religion and even to society in general. The members wanted to transcend the limits imposed by tradition, by placing each person’s trust in one’s own inner voice, rather than in society. In 1837 Emerson delivered the lecture entitled ‘The American Scholar’, in which he expressed some practical aspects of Transcendentalism. He encouraged young Americans to free themselves from dependency on old European models, and to be confident in their abilities to experiment and create their own civilization rather than to rely on European traditions and values. In ‘Divinity School Address’ the major thesis was that truth cannot be presented as a group of conventional doctrines or creeds because ‘it cannot be received at second hand’. Emerson wrote poetry throughout his life. He rebelled against the conventions of traditional poetry by using awkward rhythms and changing metre. In his search for a new flexible style, he struggled to break out of the rigid forms that had characterized poetry, and liked to experiment with irregularities in rhythm, rhyme and line length. As a result, his poetry displays a considerable range: quatrains and long poems; rhymed, blank and experimental verse; elegies, lyrics and hymns. The themes of his poetry were a fusion of the everyday and what he considered to be universal truths. He gave priority to content over formal aspects; he often sacrificed music to meaning. ‘Hamatreya’: Composed in 1845 and first published in Poems (1847). It was inspired by his reading of one of the late Hindu scriptures, Vishnu Purana. Emerson transforms the name of Maitreya into Hamatreya, and uses him as the speaker of his poem, which deals with the issue of ownership. The landlords see their crops as a result of their work, rather than as a result of nature’s processes. The ‘Earth-Song’, a poem within ‘Hamatreya’, is Nature’s answer to the landlords’ assertions of ownership: it is actually Nature that has the ownership of man. There is a change in line, stanza and diction. The lines are shortened and are broken into stanzas; the language becomes more formal. This change brings attention to the contrast between the landlords’ and Nature’s viewpoint. In the last stanza of the poem, Hamatreya speaks about himself. He is so completely converted to Nature’s way of thinking that he adopts Nature’s language structure. Nature’s though corresponds to Emerson’s and the Transcendentalists’ view of nature, it does not correspond to the Hindu way of thinking.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882): From Nature (1836) /”Hamatreya” (1847) -Came from a long tradition of ministers, went to Harvard -Tried teaching but couldn´t impose discipline -Studied theology and became a (Unitarian) preacher; believed in human goodness. The death of his wife shook his religious convictions. Resigned from the ministry (said he believed more in personal religion). -Took a tour of Europe and “discovered” nature. Came back to MA. Remarried and wrote his first book; Nature (in which he “named” Transcendentalism, 95 pages) -Encouraged young men to free themselves from old Europe Transcendentalism: a philosophical and literary movement which did not offer any rigidly organized body of doctrines or system of beliefs, but a way of thinking that openly questioned the authority of established institutions, proclaimed that all human beings could find the divine spirit within themselves, and fostered the values of democracy, creative intuition, faith in individual's potential, self-reliance, self-knowledge, a collective sense of optimism and a harmonious relationship between humankind and nature. New England transcendentalism flourished between 1836 -1847. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were among the most influential. Emerson was the leader and most passionate proponent of Transcendentalism, he encouraged Americans to transcend the limits imposed by tradition and to construct a completely new cultural identity based upon their direct contact with nature, thus simultaneously appealing to their patriotic sentiment and their romantic attachment to the unspoiled natural world. He was afraid of institutions. He supported abolitionism, Indian rights to their lands, and the women’s rights. Nature (published in 1836) Introduction and first chapter also called Nature. He has a characteristic literary voice with which he expressed his convictions. In his stylistic innovations as a prose writer and poet, he was characterized by his inventive imagery. He always rebelled against the conventions of traditional poetry. He struggled to break out the rigid forms that had characterized poetry and liked to experiment with irregularities in rhythm, rhyme and line length. His favourite themes in poetry were the fusion of the everyday and what he considered to be universal truths because he thought that simple images of ordinary life were the most powerful to convey general ideas. He gave priority to content over formal aspects sacrificing music to meaning. In order to make metaphors really striking, he resorted to grotesque extravagance such as: The central metaphor of Nature, is an original and compelling ocular image: “I become a transparent eye-ball.” Emerson repeats 6 times the word “eye” which is sometimes a pun for “I” because this essay is about how to see nature through our “eyes”. It is not by chance that he chose the ‘transparent’ eye as the metaphor for nature, for in Western culture ‘I see’ means ‘I understand.’ Besides both ‘I’ and ‘eye’ have the same pronunciation, therefore, they can easily substitute each other, especially in an oral context. He also uses weather imagery throughout the passages of Nature as he was particularly attracted to the concept of mutability and generally reacted against anything “fixed”.

(Imagery is not only visual since it includes any figurative or literal language that appeals to the senses, not only to that of seeing. Images can be metaphors, similes, symbols, personification, as well as examples of nonfigurative description). Nature, often regarded as Emerson's most original work, has an introduction and eight chapters. In the introduction and the first chapter, the major ideas of the work are outlined. In particular, he articulates his philosophy of nature as the embodiment of divine law. Nature is but an image or imagination of wisdom. He encouraged his audience to “enjoy an original relation to the universe”. Emerson tried to challenge the public expressing his opinions on controversial issues in a very direct, emphatic, and sometimes even violent manner, using rhetorical “arrows”. He worked deliberately to build a strong tension that would provoke and sometimes even shock his audience. In Nature we can find some passages particularly provocative at the very beginning. Metaphor: every man´s condition is a solution in hieroglyphic, which means that it can be revealed. Comparison: a man cast off his years as the snake his skin. In the Nature, in the wood we are always youths, and we return to the reason and faith – Nature as an expression of God, as a combination of the Soul and Art. Binary opposition: Nature- Art. I become a transparent eye –ball an image, a metaphor. It is the perfect sphere, which gives him a sense of completeness. Emerson describes a mystical experience, in which he attained a feeling of oneness with the divine. Eye- ball is a pun for I. Connate has two meanings: similar and innate. The first meaning suggests a sense of identity or familiarity with nature. The second suggests a quality actually present at birth which is part of one’s inner essential nature. I am nothing; I see all: paradox. Hamatreya, published in 1847 In his poem “Hamatreya” Emerson denounces man’s claim to possess the earth by trying to prove that it is actually Nature that has the ownership of man through paradox, irony and alliteration. Human greed for property is temporary, whereas nature is eternal. Men die, nature does not. The value attributed to possessions changes when placed in a larger context. Material possessions can be lost, but the spirit survives. It is a poem which expressed the Transcendentalist’s view of nature and was inspired by Hindu thought. Hamatreya is the speaker of his poem, which deals with the issue of ownership (whether the humans own the land or the land owns the humans). The landlords develop a sense of ownership of the land, not taking into account that the earth will return them to the soil which they claim to own. The “Earth-Song” (lines 28-63) is a poem within “Hamatreya”, is Nature's answer to the landlords’ assertions of ownership: it is actually Nature that has the ownership of man. There is a change in stanza and diction. The lines shorten and are broken into stanzas, the language becomes less like casual storytelling and more formal, structured, and intended for poetic effect. This change brings attention to the contrast between the landlords and nature’s viewpoint. In the last stanza of the poem, Hamatreya speaks about himself. He is so completely converted to Nature's way of thinking that he adopts

Nature's language structure. Nature’s thought corresponds to Emerson’s and the Transcendentalists’ thoughts. Irony is also present in the poem. At the beginning, there is some pretence of ignorance on part of the poet, but later he questions the conventional ideas stated at the beginning, thus revealing the ironic discourse. Allusion is also found related to the early settlers of Concord area (line 1). Emerson loved to dwell on conflicting ideas so as to look for truth in the reconciliation of opposites. The paradox on which Hamatreya is based can be summarised at line 29 in the Earth’s song: “Mine, not yours”. During the poem we find three different voices: Hamatreya, the poet; the landlords and the Earth. Through their voices the paradox is developed especially if we compare the landlords’ voice which states that the land is theirs with the Earth’s voice which states that nothing will last except for the Earth. Those who work the land finally return to it and only Nature and Earth are the ones that remain. THE VOICES OF THE LANDLORDS (LINES 5-1 0, 19-24), THE EARTH (28-59), AND HAMATREYA (1 -4, 11 -1 8, 25-27, 60-63): The landlords use longer lines when they claim they ownership to the land. The Earth uses shorter lines and more formal speech. Hamatreya begins with longer lines, but as he is convinced by what the Earth says, he uses shorter lines (similar to the lines that the Earth uses) to show how he is becoming more like minded with the Earth. The use of irony in the first part of the poem produces the effect of the poet's initial pretence of ignorance. The poet begins by giving the impression that he is voicing conventional ideas; the fact that he questions them later reveals his ironic discourse. ALLITERATION is the repetition of the initial sounds of stressed syllables in neighbouring words or at short intervals within a line or passage. EXAMPLE: line 6. It contributes to the rhythm of the poem. It makes the reader read faster, thereby adding a sense of speed and intensity to the sentence. It also creates a consistent pattern that catches the mind's eye and focuses attention. MAIN IDEAS: Nature (1836)  The first sentence of Nature, “Our age is retrospective,” means that our age looks back to the past.  In the first paragraph of his introduction to Nature, Emerson says that we should search for original ideas, works and insights.  In the second paragraph, Emerson compares the human condition to the solution in a hieroglyph because he considers that hieroglyphs are pictorial riddles which can be understood.  In the last paragraph of the introduction, Emerson refers to two meanings or senses of the word “Nature,” distinguishes between Nature and Art, and writes the word “nature” in four different forms: Nature, nature, NATURE, and Nature.  In the first chapter of Nature, Emerson co insiders that people should retreat from the world in order to commune with the universe and its beauty.  What distinguishes the wood-cutter from the poet is their feeling for nature.  According to Emerson, nature is best perceived by people who still have the spiritual qualities of childhood.

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In the fourth paragraph of the first chapter Emerson recalls a twilight walk across a bare common during which he experienced a kind of ecstasy when was suddenly overwhelmed by the energies of Nature. “I am nothing, I see all” is an example of paradox. According to Emerson, nature’s power to give pleasure must be used in moderation.

“Hamatreya” (1847)  The first five lines of “Hamatreya” suggest that the landlords felt satisfied about being entitled to hold the land as property.  The word “flags” in line 8 refers to certain plants.  Lines 15-16 mean that man is in control of his land but not of his destiny.  Lines 25-26 represent a sudden and startling change in perspective, tone and atmosphere.  The message of the Earth-Song is: “Nothing except the Earth itself is permanent....