Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Transcript of Ralph Waldo Emerson
SAN MARCOS UNIVERSITY
AMERICA LITERATURE
School: Education Student: Elida cullanco
menensesTeacher: Yony Cárdenas
Cornelio
(May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, philosopher,
lecturer, and poet.
Emerson was born in
Boston, Massachusetts.
He was son of Ruth
Haskins and William
Emerson.
He was the second of five
sons who survived into
adulthood.
His father died from
stomach cancer on May 12,
1811.
One of the greatest influence
on his childhood was his aunt
Mary Moody Emerson, a great
lover of women Puritan
culture.
He studied at Harvard
University.
He studied theology at
Harvard Divinity School and
was ordained pastor in 1829.
In 1829 he married Ellen
Tucker. In 1831 she died of
tuberculosis.
A year later he abandoned
his ecclesiastical career and
moved to Europe, traveling in
Italy, England, France and
Scotland.
In 1834 he returned to his
country to settle in Concord, a
town in which he lived with
his second wife, Lydia
Jackson, with whom he had
married in 1835.
Along with his role as
writer, cultivating poetry
and essays, Ralph Waldo
Emerson was an
influential intellectual
who also left their mark
on European thought.
He died of pneumonia
in Concord, April 27,
1882. He was 78.
The joy, the more you spend, The joy, the more you spend, the more it remains.the more it remains.
Every man alone is sincere, as Every man alone is sincere, as is a second person hypocrisy is a second person hypocrisy
begins. begins.
Confidence in yourself is the Confidence in yourself is the first secret of success.first secret of success.
Emerson begins "Self-Reliance" by defining genius: "To believe your
own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart
is true for all men—that is genius.’’ Every educated man, he writes,
eventually realizes that ‘‘envy is ignorance" and that he must be
truly himself. God has made each person unique and, by extension,
given each person a unique work to do, Emerson holds. To trust one's
own thoughts and put them into action is, in a very real sense, to
hear and act on the voice of God.
Emerson adds that people must seek solitude to hear their own
thoughts, because society, by its nature, coerces men to conform. He
goes so far as to call society "a conspiracy against the manhood of
every one of its members."
Individualism
Emerson repeatedly calls on
individuals to value their own
thoughts, opinions, and
experiences above those
presented to them by other
individuals, society, and
religion. This radical
individualism springs from
Emerson's belief that each
individual is not just unique
but divinely unique; i.e.,
each individual is a unique
expression of God's
creativity and will.
Trust Your Own Inner Voice
Emerson urges his readers to retain
the outspokenness of a small child
who freely speaks his mind. A child
he has not yet been corrupted by
adults who tell him to do otherwise.
He also urges readers to avoid
envying or imitating others viewed
as models of perfection; instead, he
says, readers should take pride
in their own individuality and
never be afraid to express their
own original ideas.
GENIUS: "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men-that is
genius”
GENIUS: "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men-that is
genius”
Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every
one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the
members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to
surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most requests is
conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators,
but names and customs.
Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist. He who would
gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but
must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the
integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have
the suffrage of the world. I remember an answer which when quite young I
was prompted to make to a valued adviser, who was wont to importune me
with the dear old doctrines of the church. On my saying, what have I to do
with the sacredness of traditions, if I live wholly from within? My friend
suggested, -- "But these impulses may be from below, not from above."
Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every
one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the
members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to
surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most requests is
conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators,
but names and customs.
Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist. He who would
gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but
must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the
integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have
the suffrage of the world. I remember an answer which when quite young I
was prompted to make to a valued adviser, who was wont to importune me
with the dear old doctrines of the church. On my saying, what have I to do
with the sacredness of traditions, if I live wholly from within? My friend
suggested, -- "But these impulses may be from below, not from above."
VOCABULARYManhood: the state or time of being an adult man
rather than a boy.
Joint-stock company: a company that is owned by all
the people who have shares in it.
Shareholder: an owner of shares in a company or
business.
Conformity: behavior or actions that follow the
accepted rules of society.
Hinder: to make it difficult for sb to do sth or sth to
happen.
Consistency: the quality of always behaving in the
same way or of having the same opinions, standard, etc.
1. How does society conspire against manhood? Why must a man be a non-
conformist?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______
2. According to Emerson, why is it problematic for an individual to be
concerned with “consistency”?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
____
1. How does society conspire against manhood? Why must a man be a non-
conformist?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______
2. According to Emerson, why is it problematic for an individual to be
concerned with “consistency”?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
____
1. What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the
people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in
intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between
greatness and meanness.
1. What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the
people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in
intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between
greatness and meanness.Comment: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Comment: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. I have to be myself. I can not break for more time for
yourself, or you. If you can love me for who I am, we will be
happier.
Comment: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift
you can present every moment with the cumulative
force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted
talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous,
half possession.
CONCLUSIONS:
1. What mistakes do we make in terms of imitating others?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
____________
2. Emerson strongly urges readers to trust their own insight and
common sense when making a decision. Is this advice flawed in any
way? Why?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
__________________