The Romantic Era Of American Literature Promoted By David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, And Ralph Waldo Emerson Essay

In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay, Self-Reliance, he claims that everyone can be independent; however, his argument is quixotic today because most individuals in present times are ignorant and do not value themselves as they should.

Henry David Thoreau’s words that “disobedience is the true foundation of liberty” and that “the obedient must be slaves” is a political statement that never lost its topicality during the Romantic era. Thoreau is an important contributor to the philosophical and American literary movement known as New England Transcendentalism. Nature and the conduct of life are two central themes that are often weaved together in his essays and books that were published in the Romantic era of literature. Thoreau brought these two themes together to write on how people ought to live a simplistic life. His naturalistic writing intertwined cataloging and observation with Transcendentalist views of nature. Through his life and his work, Henry David Thoreau has contributed to American Literature since the Romantic era.

The time of Romanticism brought upon many trends extending from the idea of individualism as a rebellious separation from the classics, an idealistic outlook and finally to a strong religious base. Most of the writers of the Romantic period followed Pantheism "God is everything and everything is God ... the world is either identical with God or in some way a self-expression of his nature" (Owen 1971: 74). The idea of Pantheism was that everything in the world worked in unity. In some of the works of the Romantic period the expression of nature and humans are not separate entities, but one in the same. Even though in reality it did not work this way Pantheism was the ideal of most these writers and idealism in itself was yet another trend

Self reliance is a transcendentalist concept advocated by Ralph Waldo Emerson. He famously said, “What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think”(364). When practicing self-reliance, In the Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls grows up depending on no one and is forced to practice self-reliance; however, this belief is detrimental to her self-confidence and self-esteem. She damages her dignity when she denies aid from others when she is not capable of relying on herself, and she damages her self-confidence when she attempts to improve her life in Welch but is not able to change anything.

Throughout Self-Reliance and Song of Myself by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman, many common threads tie the two works together. One key similarity between the writings is a shared view of society and its various institutions. Emerson and Whitman both condemned established organizations, whether they were religious or social. However, Whitman expanded on Emerson’s views to create a more inclusive vision. He removed any restraints, which brought his work to a greater audience. Therefore, even though both writers advocated living from within rather than subscribing to a certain viewpoint, Whitman criticized more than the institutions themselves, and instead focused on the inequality that they created.

In “Self-Reliance”, Emerson adopts the rhetorical strategy of aphorisms to annex what he thinks by enriching his thesis, while allowing a pause in the reader’s mind to comprehend just what he is saying. Emerson’s honest aphorism advises people to actually believe in themselves in order to be triumphant by saying, “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” (Emerson 1) and “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string” (Emerson 3). The aphorism demonstrates that believing in themselves, and what is important to them, the reader, is what everyone else does, that being an individual is a genius idea. Comparing this to what society, especially the younger individuals with in society, they themselves hear differently, that they

Chris McCandless utilizes the transcendental key self-reliance throughout his journey. As a little boy McCandless did not need toys or games to keep himself occupied. He was often found alone and entertaining himself. Chris McCandless seemed to be happiest when he was alone. This action is an example of the transcendental key self-reliance because most children need some form of entertainment other than themselves to be happy, but Chris McCandless just relied on himself to insure that he was happy. The transcendental key self-reliance is also a common theme in ¨Self-Reliance¨ by Ralph Waldo Emerson. In the essay, Emerson states, ¨Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.¨ McCandless lived in a way that he thought was best. He did not care what others thought about him, and only concentrated on what was best for him and his life.

When young adults are presented with the expectation to join society, they lose the capability to trust their own opinions and enact judgment based on their morals. The inability for young adults to understand their full potential translates to them not understanding how they can achieve their future endeavors. Ralph Waldo Emerson, a prominent Transcendentalist, flourished society’s perspective on cherishing what they have without the help of aids with his essay, “Self-Reliance.” Emerson’s essay uses the stylistic techniques of compare and contrast along with cause and effect. He contradicts society’s claims of what is deemed self-reliance and associates their views with false arguments. On the other hand, Henry David Thoreau, a widely-known philosopher, communicated his beliefs of self-reliance with his personal essay, “Where I Lived and What I Lived For.” Thoreau demonstrates his experience in the woods as one of the most important times in his life where he learned about life’s necessities and how to rely on himself. Both Emerson and Thoreau interpret the lack of reliance in an individual as an inhibiting factor in a young adult’s ability to achieve greateness in their introduction, development, and conclusion paragraphs.

Within the passage of Walden, by Henry David Thoreau, it demonstrates multiple examples of Romanticism. The concepts being mentioned are ideas about going transcending ordinary societal beliefs, following ones’ intuition, and creating a new moral law.

In “Self Reliance”, Emerson discusses being one’s own person and not allowing society to mold someone like a piece of clay; “Trust thyself” are the exact words he used. Trusting oneself means it is okay to be different if one wants or chooses to be different. It

“Dance to the beat of your own drummer:'; A piece of advice that I have been told my whole life, and have tried my hardest to follow. The words were taken from Thoreau’s quote, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.';

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.

Self reliance is the dependency on one’s own beliefs. The essay “Self- Reliance”, written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, discusses the philosophy behind true self reliance. An example of a character who is self- reliant can be taken from the book, For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway.

Ralph Waldo Emerson declares in "Self-Reliance" there is a higher merit we can ascribe and aspire to. These merits in man’s greatness are attributed not to conformity, but rather to originality. Nonconformity and discontinuity in a man’s approach to life are the doctrines advocated by Emerson in his work, while inwardly searching for personal truth. Although, Emerson employs a discontinuous literary style in his work, he revels in his lack of continuity to further broadcast his ideology of nonconformity and inconsistency. The lack of formal structure in the work enhances rather than inhibits the reader’s grasp of the literature. An examination of the work, however, suggests that nonconformity and discontinuity are the

In an essay titled Self-Reliance, Emerson claims that people can have individualism in society. This claim is relevant today because religion has a big role in the lifestyle and values of a person therefore, creating their individuality.