To talk about Emerson’s “The American Scholar” was a fun read, in a way to see how one brain works and thinks. This idea of what it means to be a man scholar, I want to focus the word man because that is all he talks about in this essay is about man, man thinker, man farmer. There was one part of the text where he talk about women and how men need women which was nice but most of the time he talked about men. Back to the idea or structure of being a scholar, it was very interesting to hear about this guideline almost because it makes me think do I agree or do I not, but he did have some great points that did have me hooked. “who can doubt, that poetry will revive and lead in a new age” love this, totally agree with this idea and think it is somewhat true, i think for it’s time it really sticks out because in a way he is right, poetry did lead into a new age of thinking and literature. He talked a lot about Shakespeare influence which in this statement that I just quoted, his influence has lead a new age of poetry such has T.S. Eliot.
His ideas of being a scholar were fun, Man Thinking which is just a bookworm, books are the mans strongest tool then he says that if there is no book a man will have a resource, which I mean yeah. Then one could argue that the book is the resource. the scholar should be free and brave to collect all this information and write freely from the brain. Many aspects of being a scholar and where it can take you almost. These thinking skills give the man soul and thats the one thing man values the most, is an active soul.
This easy was a little hard to follow but after a while I feel like I started to understand him and his thoughts, his idea and they way he portrays them, make them seem factual. I feel almost to really take in what he is saying and apply it to my way of being a scholar.
Hi Sam. I enjoyed your approach to Emerson’s writing on “Man Thinking” and self-reliance. However, I would like to approach it from a different angle. Instead of romanticizing the importance of literature, I kind of thought of it in the sense of romanticizing the importance of what we do/take away from literature. Most people can read a piece of literature; a book, poem, prose, essay, or excerpt. But, not many can actually use or value the importance of what is within said piece of literature. I know it might sound like an analytical approach; that’s all we tend to do in literature classes is pick apart and analyze the text. But considering your approach to his writing, I would like to highlight the importance of using what is consumed to pitch your life in a better direction instead of merely consuming it “just because”. Emerson’s talk of individualism and self-reliance pinpoints the issues of flocking together like sheep and not using our skills to stand out and continue to think or change ourselves as we progress life. So, instead of just consuming literature, we can continue to think it over and shape ourselves and our skills to continue pushing our lives in a more brilliant direction.