1. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882) The father of American literature the chief spokesman of New England Transcendentalism

2. Emerson’s Literary Achievements Nature (1836)—the manifesto (the Bible) of the American Transcendentalism. (It has an Introduction and eight chapters: 1. Nature 2. Commodity 3. Beauty 4. Language 5. Discipline 6. Idealism 7. Spirit 8. Prospects.) The major thesis of the essay, in Emerson's words, is that we should now "enjoy an original relation to the universe," and not become dependent on past experiences of others and on holy books, creeds and dogma.

3. The American Scholar (1837) —Oliver Wendell Holmes called it “our intellectual Declaration of Independence.” In Emerson’s diction, the Scholar is “Man Thinking”. As “Man Thinking” the Scholar should know how to think when confronted with Nature, the Past (in the form of books) and Action (life). (from Toming 96) He expressed in this work that Americans should write about here and now instead of imitating and importing from other lands. He called on American writers to write about America in a way peculiarly American.

4. Self Reliance (1841) This essay elaborates further on the familiar Emersonian thesis - trust yourself. The need of each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency, and follow his or her own instincts and ideas. “Self-Reliance” is not anti-society or anti- community. Instead, Emerson advocates self- reliance as a starting point, not as a goal.

5. Emerson’s Ideas on Transcendentalism The soul is divine and identical in all men. We have the same instincts and desires; there is a spark of eternity in every man, and he possesses within himself the means of all knowledge. Nature is only another side of God, “the gigantic shadow of God cast on our senses”. Every law of Nature has a counterpart in the intellect. There is a perfect parallel between the laws of nature and laws of thought. God is the Over-Soul, and thus has unobstructed access to the Over-Soul. Every man may commune with God if he wills.

6. quotations Standing on the bare ground- my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space – all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the current of the Universal Being circulates through me; I am part or parcel of God. [from Nature] To be great is to be misunderstood. Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.

7. A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us. A great man is always willing to be little. Every book is a quotation; and every house is a quotation out of all forests, and mines, and stone quarries; and every man is a quotation from all his ancestors.

8. Infants’ eyes