Emerson Metaphors

In fact, in one of his pieces "Self Reliance," Emerson indicates, "A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the luster of the firmament of bards and sages." This quote demonstrates that man should learn to go after their instinct and not ignore their thoughts. By appreciating Emerson's knowledge, students will learn to trust their instincts. Students who doubt their instincts should trust that "If [they] advance confidently in the direction of [their] dreams, and endeavors to live the life which [they have] imagined, [they] will meet with a success unexpected in common hour," and believe, that if they follow their dreams and instinct they will be successful (Thoreau). Students should fight for what they believe in order to accomplish their dreams. By utilizing Thoreau and Emerson's intelligence in life, people will start to believe more in their own intuition.

The author believes nature is a way to be truly alone and sees it as the embodiment of perfection and beauty. Ralph Waldo Emerson uses figurative language (symbolism), comparison, and contrast to convey his message. In the passage, the author uses symbolism to portray to the reader how he feels about nature. He states “His intercourse (communication) with heaven and earth becomes part of his daily food.” This is symbolism because he is using food as a symbol for how necessary it is for Someone to communicate with nature.

Emerson has issue with society. He believes that the conformity and “encroachment on peoples’ liberties [hindered the individual.] He says people should look for individual freedom, and in finding that freedom, people will achieve self-reliance” (Yanella 4, 13). More so Emerson does not trust the system that governs society. He sees society as a “joint stock company that is in conspiracy with every one of its members” (“Self-Reliance” 535). Society can be seen as a hindrance on individual thought because a lot of times people will do what society or authority tells them to do without thinking of themselves first.

Emerson’s “Self- Reliance” was written in a time where America was breaking away from the European norms and European control. America was used to thinking and conforming to the European way, but when we broke away we had learn how to think and do for ourselves. Emerson wrote on this topic of conformity and learning to think for ourselves because, he soon began to see a problem when we conform to society.

In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay titled “Self-Reliance” he speaks on the topic of the individual, creating the idea that an individual being independent leads to greatness. Emerson’s writing within this memoir is relatable to young individuals who are looking for themselves, an individual must avoid conformity and false consistency while following their own thoughts making themselves an individual. Within the essay, Emerson uses a range of rhetorical devices to prove that every individual can do great by being an individual and not like everyone else, something that young people everywhere should hear while growing up with the heinous act of peer pressure.

The ongoing metaphor that Emerson uses throughout his essay is the circle metaphor. He writes that “the eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second; and throughout nature this primary figure is repeated without end” (para. 1). By comparing the world to a series of circles, the audience can better understand what Emerson is trying to say. Thus, he can effectively spread his ideas to the general population through and easy to understand term. Another trope that Emerson employs is personification. He personifies nature in his opening poem writing that “Nature centres into balls, and her proud ephemerals, fast to surface and outside…”. By personifying nature, he gives it a sense of importance to the word which the reader can identify. Nature was a large part of the Transcendentalism ideologies, so it makes sense that he would do this to help connect his reader to his ideas in this

2) a) Here, Emerson means that all hearts vibrate to the same instinct of what is right and what is wrong. He connects everyone worldwide by stating that all their hearts are similar in many ways. Although people are different, they all share one thing: instinct. Everyone is born with a sense of direction.

Emerson clarified, “that he must take himself for better” (2). Nevertheless, be your own person and allowing society to shape who a person. Emerson also clears up that, “he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried’ (2). Emerson states this considering, that the reader can be directed to be your own person and figure out how if they were to try, but until then no good will come from what society wants you to be.

Imagine a world where there is no society. Imagine if there was no technology and everybody just lived in isolation. In Emerson’s essay, “Self-Reliance,” he illustrates his ideas on the tenet by using metaphors. Nonconformity means being mentally and physically separated from society, a quality which sometimes overlaps with the ideas behind self-reliance. In “Where I Lived and What I Lived For,” Thoreau uses personal experiences, description, and problem-and-solution. Emerson and Thoreau begin by using different techniques, Thoreau using problem-and-solution and description, while Emerson uses cause-and-effect, yet both use cause-and-effect to develop the idea that one should be independent of society in the end.

1. The main theme of the piece “Self-Reliance” is that one should never conform to the way that society views that they should because in doing that, a person loses their individuality. Emerson believed that a person should, “Speak [their] latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense,” meaning that if a person chooses to march to the beat of their own drum, then nobody can tell them their opinion is wrong because at least they are taking a chance and speaking their mind. Emerson’s definition of self-reliance is similar to the common use because both definitions discuss how one should take care of personal needs and be independent. Emerson himself stated that, “the great man is he who

Emerson expresses the ideal place in the world that individuals should find for themselves: “Accept the place the divine Providence has found for you; the society of your contemporaries, the connexion of events” (550). Emerson advises individuals to assume the roles that are given to them, and to live actively as integral parts of the society, which is a commitment ordained by the divine. Furthermore, Emerson points out a way, difficult as it might be, to preserve individuality while being a part of the society: “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who, in the midst of the crowd, keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” (552-553). Between the extremes of absolute compliance to the societal opinion and to personal voice, Emerson suggests that there is a middle way whereby various conflicts of can be resolved.

The second body paragraph will discuss both Emerson and Mill’s view on individuality. Here I hope to expand the scope of each essay so that the reader can have a better understanding of the intent of each writer. A couple of my sources argue that both Mill and Emerson’s writings are not simply on individualism and liberty but also about control and other aspects of life. I feel as though this is the most important part of the research paper and therefore I will be doing my best to bring as much information as I can to the table in order to present a solid understanding of the

To purposefully manage one’s own destiny, it is imperative to manage the self. Emerson argues that society is dangerous to the self, suggesting that “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 request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs” (Emerson 714). To depend on society or to bend to a middle-ground is to be untrue to the self, which comes without virtue. Society destroys the individual in favor of the group, but this means that the individual will grow lesser of himself because of it. Therefore, society and individualism cannot exist parallel to one another. Society poisons the self.

Emerson defines imagery divulges and makes the reader imagine “Familiar as the voice of the mind is to each, the highest merit we ascribe to Moses, Plato, and Milton, is that they set at naught books and traditions, and spoke not what men but what they thought” (1). In the paragraph Emerson verbalizes that these people are original and society should be like that. Moses, Plato, and Milton were ideal since they would speak from their heart and what they postulate. They didn’t care what the facts were or what others thought. This paragraph relates to the main purpose by stating the fact that everyone is original.

Emerson suggests that people give in too easy to societal and governmental pressures. He wants the individual to be in control of right or wrong based upon his fundamentals. These two writings in particular were revolutionary in the realm of transcendentalism. They inspired people, and they began to think that maybe Emerson’s way of life was better than the one they were living. One person in particular took Emerson’s ideas to heart, and tried to further and improve them.