Examples of Transcendental Thought:



Examples of Transcendental Thought:

Exploring ideas from Nature and Self-Reliance (Emerson) & Walden (Thoreau): Compare the thoughts of these two American writers, citing specific quotes using MLA format and explaining their meaning in complete, intelligent sentences. I have begun the chart for you.

| | Quotations & Examples | Explanation |

|Nonconformity | | |

| |“Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether |This quote by Thoreau urges the reader not to|

| |clothes or friends….Sell your clothes and keep your |be preoccupied with the accumulation of |

| |thoughts” (Thoreau 413). |material goods. In advising the reader to |

| | |forego the “little white house with a picket |

| | |fence,” Thoreau does not conform to social |

| | |expectations. |

| | | |

|Self-reliance | | |

| |“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one | |

| |advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and | |

| |endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will| |

| |meet with a success unexpected in common hours” (Thoreau | |

| |412) | |

|Free Thought | | |

| |“…I had but ten cents in the world, and it surpassed my | |

| |arithmetic to tell, if I was that man who had ten cents, | |

| |or who had a farm, or ten dollars….I sold him the farm | |

| |for just what I gave for it,….But I retained the | |

| |landscape…” (Thoreau 408). | |

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

|Confidence | | |

| |“Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist….Nothing is| |

| |at last sacred but the integrity of your own | |

| |mind….consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, | |

| |adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines” | |

| |(Emerson 394). | |

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

|Importance of Nature | | |

| |“Standing on the bare ground….I became a transparent | |

| |eyeball;….The greatest delight which the fields and woods| |

| |minister is the suggestion of an occult relation between | |

| |man and the vegetable” (Emerson 390-391). | |

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Read the excerpt from Emerson’s Self-Reliance and answer the following discussion questions in complete, correct sentences:

1. What does “self-reliance” mean? Is it a good title for this essay?

2. What does Emerson mean when he writes that “envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide”?

3. How does Emerson describe society (use a quote)? Explain what he means by paraphrasing.

4. How does Emerson feel about conformity?

5. What is Emerson’s comment about consistency (doing things because “that’s the way it’s always been done; we must comply with the masses)?

6. Why, according to Emerson, should people trust themselves?

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