Brute Neighbors Rhetorical Analysis

In communicating their beliefs about nature and man’s connection with the natural world, transcendental writers employ rhetoric full of personified natural elements and extended metaphors connecting the natural world to man’s own personal experiences. One of the most clear demonstrations of this technique occurs in Thoreau's “Brute Neighbors” as the author personifies the ants and the loon to equate their value to that humans. In observation of the loon, Thoreau writes, “This was his looning--perhaps the wildest sound that is ever heard here...I concluded that he laughed in derision of my efforts confident of his own resources” (Thoreau). Thoreau personifies the loon as his advantaged adversary, while it remains characteristically wild and …show more content…
The purpose of this personification is to make the reader reconsider the connotation of wild, as Thoreau believes in the value of the untarnished, uncivilized natural world, a belief characteristic of transcendentalists. Thoreau elicits the reader’s respect for the bird to communicate his message about the importance of maintaining a connection with the most pure and natural aspects of life. Transcendentalist writers communicate this importance through other approaches as well, as seen in Bryant’s “Thanatopsis.” Bryant’s approach to this method is slightly different from Thoreau’s as he personifies nature and Earth as a whole. In “Thanatopsis” Bryant writes, “Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim / Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again” (Bryant 22). Bryant implies that man is entirely at the mercy of Nature by personifying it as a powerful mother figure. By developing the earth as the most powerful and omnipresent force in existence, he makes a blatant statement about nature’s importance and influence. Writers like Thoreau and Bryant use rhetorical techniques like these to communicate the transcendental ideas relating to nature, while inspiring a degree of insight and self-reflection that heightens the impact of their …show more content…
A transcendentalist who is famous for his witty aphorisms is Emerson; the brief, memorable conclusions make his ideas even more intriguing. His essay “Self-Reliance” contains many of these famous aphorisms, such as “Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist…” (Emerson). In this excerpt, he effectively communicates his message about the importance of individual nonconformity by making an eloquent statement about what he feels is a general truth of life. By offering his own definition of what a man must be, he appeals to ethos; the reader rationalizes that one who can define the parameters of humanity is one to respect and listen to. In the same work, he writes “To be great is to be misunderstood…” (Emerson). Working in the same way as the first aphorism, this excerpt makes a broadly general declaration qualifying what a man should be. This statement serves to inspire and does so effectively; the reader feels inclined to pursue the characteristics that the author so concisely praises. While aphorisms are Emerson’s chosen method of effectual conclusions, other transcendental writers like Bryant make the same type of bold statements in a different way. As he concludes “Thanatopsis,” Bryant instructs,