First of all there was the belief that the individual was valued over society. One example of this is in the piece "Social-Reliance" in which Emerson wrote; "Society everywhere is in the conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members...in which the members agree...to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater." This is saying that society is out to mold man into what it sees him fit to be. Society is always at your heels trying to turn you into a sheep and to follow the lead of one man. To surpass society you must first be able to look past and beyond it to explore goodness, and absolve to yourself. If you can accomplish that you will have the suffrage of the world. To lead yourself you have to follow your instincts of what you feel right and not what society tells you is right. By doing this society will have a harder time to mold you into what it wants you

Likewise they believed that you needed to understand nature to understand yourself. Which means that you can only discover who you are by exploring it through nature. Emerson shows this in "Nature". In the exert "...man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature." This is saying that you view nature as you view yourself. That if you see nature as a beautiful and magnificent thing that is how you will see yourself. Similarly if you understand nature greatly you will know yourself better. As Emerson said you become a transparent eyeball and see all what is happening and grasp it with an understanding beyond your belief. You are able to see all that is happening in your world, and you are able to understand it as God does. Emerson also shows it in "The American Scholar". It says "To young minds everything is individual...it finds how to join two things and see them as one nature; then three...it goes on tying things together, diminishing anomalies, discovering roots running under ground...remote things cohere and flower out from one stem." Which means that as a young man starts in life he sees every thing as an individual piece. Yet as he gains wisdom from nature he slowly begins to realize the every thing is connected to one root. As you discover that, your beginning to realize that understanding is a gate way to the divine, and to get knowledge of yourself. And the poem "Water Fowl" by Bryant shows this as well. As he watches a lone bird fly along guided by no physical force he wonders what is steering it in the right direction. As he thinks more deeply about it he finds that it is the divine that steers him right, as it doe the bird. He discovers this from within he sees that he is connected to the bird by some invisible force. This force also keeps him on the right track if he just listens to it.

Valuing yourself over nature, understanding yourself is also understanding nature, and you need to be your own person and lead your own life are three main beliefs that were shown in the literature tha

Some common words found in the essay are:
Thoreau Resistance, Walden Thoreau, Fowl Bryant, Social-Reliance Emerson, American Scholar, Emerson Nature, Locke Bacon, Oscar Wilde, Emerson Meek, , own person, yourself nature, understand nature, nature own person, resistance civil government, nature own, person life, society able, feel society, own person life, control life, literature read value, society example, life committed suicide, life committed,
Approximate Word count = 1380
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)