I’m extremely familiar with Emerson’s work due to his proximity to Louisa May Alcott in her childhood. I did my honors thesis on Alcott’s Transcendentalist background and upbringing, so a majority of Emerson’s either subtle or sometimes direct references to nature and Transcendentalism took me back to the labor of love that was my 25-page paper. It was interesting to read this specific essay and reflect on how his perspective is almost openly mirrored in Alcott’s Little Women, Flower Fables, and her personal letters as both an American author and American scholar.
Emerson points to nature as the first teacher of the American scholar, urging the audience, which extends beyond just Martin Van Buren, to return to the land to be re-inspired and literally touch grass. One of my favorite things about Emerson, and thus Alcott, is how reminiscent the writing is—I can see Emerson looking out his window at Bostonian elms or bluestem grass, recognizing the individuality of nature, and discovering that a return to these central elements is the key to correcting “the degenerate state” (Emerson). I know we discussed the historical context during one of our other sessions, but Emerson’s letter is such a time capsule to the fears that the Industrial Revolution brought. There are so many instances where Emerson warns against a copy-and-paste American scholar, who thinks what others think as if on a mass-produced conveyor belt of national intellect.
I am glad that you are familiar with Emerson; I would now love to see you engage actively with his text. Focus on a quote and analyze it– push towards a question or interpretation that you can bring to class to share and develop. Keep going!
Hey Alyssa, really thoughtful insight into American Scholar! I hate to say that I’m really not familiar with big names in literature, or if I am familiar, there’s a good chance I haven’t really read much of their work. Familiarity certainly sounds like it’d be helpful when analyzing someone’s literature and work, and I think your point about the Industrial Revolution is very interesting. Nature at its core is one of the very things that will be left on the earth when many of us are gone, and I hadn’t really considered the idea of being fearful when industry of all things changes. It’s a period of new things that brought about progress, yet at the same time poisoned a lot of the environment at the same time. There wouldn’t be anything to think about if the nature around us is gone, and in Emerson’s point as well, there’s a dissuasion to that “copy-and-paste.”