Literature

A detailed Summary of Literature

Major events in history have always influenced writers, but it very rare for a writer to influence history. Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of these rare writers. He put into words a new air, a new way of thinking, which began to drift into American minds since the colonial days. His words condensed this air into something tangible, "the literature of the poor, the feelings of the child, the philosophy of the street, the meaning of household life" which has defined the attitude of America. This new attitude was how one must define his own mind based on unique thought, not popular thought, to set himself free from oppression and from his present circumstance. Many Americans such as Whitman, Dickinson, Thoreau, and Douglass have been inspired by this new philosophy and have made it their own through their literature.

The seeds of this new philosophy were sown years before Emerson had voiced it. Like Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson thought American life should be built on thought and reason for the welfare of all people. He expressed this by "[declaring] the causes which impels [America] to the separation" from England in the Declaration of Independence. He wanted to show Europe that Americans under democracy knew what was bes

While Thoreau was influenced directly by Emerson's writings, some writers naturally embodied Emersonian thought. Emerson believed that "it is the raw material out of which the intellect moulds her splendid products" and Fredrick Douglass was the ideal representation of this. As a slave, Douglass was predestined to live life in darkness. But by his own thoughts and drive he changed his circumstance and found in himself the great person he had the potential of being.

While many American writers influenced by Emerson's words made them their own, some brought them to life by living them. Like Emerson, Henry Thoreau found his soul reflected in nature. It was not enough for him to understand spiritually, he had to experience it. So he "went to the woods because [he] wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if [he] could learn what it had to teach, and not when [he] came to die, discover that [he] had not lived." Secluded at Walden Pond, Thoreau contemplated life, learning from experience as time passed. Much like Franklin, he wanted to "live deep and suck out all the marrow of life ... and if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness ... by experience."

Emerson brought the vaguely forming image of individual America

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 873
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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