Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Place to Lay One’s Head From my house up on the ridge, if the cottonwood leaves below have fallen away in the autumn, you can see another smallish house straddling the thin line of the village river. It is tucked between the river and cottonwoods on one side and the wild field that my father sometimes plants with corn, wheat and rye on the other. I started building it about five years ago right around Christmas break from school. It is a pit house so the beginnings of it really weren’t about…

For a parent, one of the biggest concerns they have for their children is making sure they are ready for their future, whether it would be for college or the working world. The skills that parents teach their children at a young age continue to help them grow throughout their life. However, as young children, they do not need to know how to be capable of everything, but exposing them and helping them practice basic essential skills will help them grow up to be successful adults. In order for…

O Me! O Life! When Walter Whitman wrote the poem “O Me! O Life!” in 1855, he wrote from the heart. He wrote for himself and expressed his own feelings. Not once did Whitman think that the poem he was writing would become a huge success and hit the hearts of millions of other people across generations. Whitman did not know that the words he was writing would still be significant to this day. What he also did not know was that his words would be so significant that “O Me! O Life” would a part of…

This is the case in Jack London's “To Build a Fire” and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Nature” and “Self-Reliance”. London's naturalist views and Emerson's transcendentalist views differ in beliefs about nature. This reflects how the Civil War and Darwinism affect the way that nature is viewed. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s stories “Self-Reliance” and “Nature” display his pre-war views describing nature as beautiful, connecting everything together. Emerson shows how nature and individuality can connected to a…

“Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality.” Emily Dickinson lives on in the minds of people who love her and her poetry, even though she never sought the immortality that comes with fame. Dickinson had a very humble and religious upbringing, causing her to reject the idea of God but not entirely abandon the way she was taught to live and think. She lived a reclusive life in her family’s house, alone with her thoughts and emotions. Her failed love affair gave her the knowledge that…

relationship between humanity and nature and to living by his political and social beliefs.” As said by Sam Erickson. Thoreau was a transcendentalist and is known today as one of the “Big Three” in American Literature along with Walt Whitman and Ralph Emerson. Thoreau devoted his life to explore the importance of humanity and nature. For two years Thoreau lived in a cabin he built at Walden Pond. It was here where he wrote one of his most famous works entitled, Walden. In Walden, Thoreau…

“The Speech of Polly Baker” by Benjamin Franklin is a leading example of how American writers challenged notions of social injustice and attempted to bring social change. Franklin writes this fictional story about a woman being convicted for giving birth to an illegitimate child and criticizes the laws that punish them. Polly Baker has been convicted of this same crime four times previously but each time, argues that she is not the only one responsible for this transgression. Women are…

Nathalie Vieux-Gresham 10/31/15 ROUGH DRAFT 1.9.16 Whitman: Whitman vs Narrator Whitman’s “Song of Myself” Walt Whitman was a prolific author who has written many works. One of his works, Song of Myself, describes the experience of a narrator whose life is very relaxed. This narrator is a young thirty-seven-year-old, who is constantly loafing. On the other hand, the author of his story, Walt Whitman, is completely different. He was a prolific writer of a large collection, and an abolitionist…

his view of nature and society’s view of nature. Emerson uses vivid language: “I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me” (1), to explain that he is among nature in his solitude. The effect of this statement develops a point that even though he is alone, Nature surrounds him with its beauty. Comparisons such as “the stars…though always present…are inaccessible, but all natural objects make a kindred impression” (2), Emerson makes a point that the beauty of nature…

“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness” - John Muir. For a young Chris McCandless who was unsure of his identity and struggling with family issues, it makes sense that he turned to the outdoors in an effort to find clarity and purpose. Chris grew up in a fairly wealthy home, with a seemingly ideal life. His parents gave him everything he ever wanted and more monetarily, however there was always a disconnect between them. After his father’s affair, Chris seemed to view…