Ralph Emerson was a principal figure in the Transcendentalist movement of the 1840s, in addition to, he was also a well-known essayist and poet. His 1841 essay, “Self-Reliance”, emphasizes the importance of people acquiring their identity along with being true to themselves. Throughout his essay, Emerson strains the significance of individuals avoiding conformity and following their own thoughts and judgments. Emerson obtains his goal of conveying his message by generating multifarious allusions to compose his point. Allusions help connect the ideas within a piece of writing to the bigger picture; they also demonstrate that the author is indeed educated, contributing to their writing's credibility. He utilizes allusions to display that granted,
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He applied allusions to persuade the audience to speak their mind, regardless of what society might think of them. At one point society did not understand and criticized new, unique philosophies and ideas as, “Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood” (6). Emerson is trying to prove that even the “crazy” ideas can end up being the utmost revolutionary; one should not discourage their ideas just because society does not understand. The historical figures mentioned in the essay had ideas that were deemed insane, but these ideas and philosophies developed to become substantial contributions to society, which are still a part of many people's everyday life. Allusions are also used to show that one does not need fancy equipment to make an impact on the world. Hudson and Behring's, two famous explorers, “accomplished so much in their fishing-boats, as to astonish Parry and Franklin, whose equipment exhausted the resources of science and art. Galileo, with an opera-glass, discovered a more splendid series of celestial phenomena than anyone since. Columbus found the New World in an undecked boat” (17). Emerson utilizes these highly successful people as a reminder to
He applied allusions to persuade the audience to speak their mind, regardless of what society might think of them. At one point society did not understand and criticized new, unique philosophies and ideas as, “Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood” (6). Emerson is trying to prove that even the “crazy” ideas can end up being the utmost revolutionary; one should not discourage their ideas just because society does not understand. The historical figures mentioned in the essay had ideas that were deemed insane, but these ideas and philosophies developed to become substantial contributions to society, which are still a part of many people's everyday life. Allusions are also used to show that one does not need fancy equipment to make an impact on the world. Hudson and Behring's, two famous explorers, “accomplished so much in their fishing-boats, as to astonish Parry and Franklin, whose equipment exhausted the resources of science and art. Galileo, with an opera-glass, discovered a more splendid series of celestial phenomena than anyone since. Columbus found the New World in an undecked boat” (17). Emerson utilizes these highly successful people as a reminder to