21, 11. 19-23. Find illustrations in Scott and Shakespeare to test the point made. 22, 1. 3. "I have seen an individual" etc., is a favorite method with Emerson of sketching an ideal. It is not always certain he had not someone in mind. This ideal person in Journal and essays alike he often calls Osman. See page 25, line 18. 22, 1. 15. Note the opinion on woman's rights. By the term "musical nature" he signifies a natural fitness or sense of harmony that makes one receptive to the leading of Intuition. Emerson was especially fortunate in his women friends. The first type of woman described may well be taken to reflect the personalities of Margaret Fuller, his aunt Mary Moody Emerson, and Sarah Ripley. In the second type there is a reminder of Ellen Tucker Emerson and of Elizabeth Hoar, whom he always called his sister as she was the betrothed wife of his brother Charles. 24, 1. 11. This sentence is idealistic: Things are what our minds hold them to be; fashionable society melts to nothing, when the brave and the good say, “It is nothing unless it.be good and useful." 24, 1. 15. Note the humor and the irony at the close of this paragraph. 25, 1. 16. What does he stigmatize in the term "national caution"? 25, 1. 30. Does this paragraph settle upon any scheme for reorganizing imperfect society? III. SUGGESTIONS FOR THE STUDY OF THE ESSAY AS A WHOLE The general thought in the essay on Manners takes two lines,— statements on society as a whole and statements on the gentleman. As Emerson presents, as usual, the ideal side by side with the actual, the whole essay may be grouped under four headings. A collection of some of the specific statements of the essay under these four groups will supply a partial tabulation that can be extended by the pupil. A. The ideal of society. 1. Society is a self-constituted aristocracy, or fraternity of the best. 2. It makes its own whatever personal beauty or extraordinary native endowment anywhere appears. B. Actual society: 1. It is the average result of the character and faculties universally found in man. 2. It is the spontaneous fruit of that class who have most vigor. C. The ideal gentleman: 1. The word is a homage to personal and incommunicable properties. 2. The gentleman is a man of truth, lord of his own actions, expressing that lordship in his behavior; and the possessor of good nature and benevolence. D. The gentleman as he sometimes exists: 1. Frivolous and fantastic additions have got associated with the name. 2. All sorts of gentlemen knock at the door. The statements under each head will tend to group themselves around rather definite ideas, as for instance in A.: a. The formation and constitution of society; b. The relation of the man of force to society; c. The qualities that gain entrance to society; d. The true reason for the existence of society, and the advantages of a social code; e. Society as a symbol of high spiritual facts. Such questions as the following may serve to bring out the leading teachings more clearly. 1. Is Emerson too optimistic in his picture of actual society? 2. Does he intimate anywhere that he would forcibly abolish the faults of society? Does he hope for a slow reformation of society? Account for these facts. Discuss the bearing of the last paragraph upon them. 3. How do the statements under D of the outline emphasize his positive, optimistic method of teaching. 4. How many of the qualities assigned to the ideal gentleman may be traced back to Emerson's ideal of the individual? 5. Show in the whole characterization of the ideal gentleman that emphasis is laid on the moral sentiment (i. e. character as opposed to virtues), and hatred of moral cowardice. What to Emerson constitutes moral cowardice? 6. What remedy is offered to a person who feels aggrieved at his position in society or at his exclusion from it? How is this idealistic? 7. What part do irony and humor play in the essay? 8. How does the essay stand related to the teaching of idealism? of evolution? 9. Discuss the optimism of the essay as a whole. 10. Show how Emerson's idea of the origin, constitution, and growth of society lays the responsibility for faults in it upon the individual. Is this ideal or practical? Why is it consistent with his whole philosophy? SELF-RELIANCE The general teaching of this essay may be grouped around the following heads: A. The ideal as it is set: 1a. The self-reliant nation; 16. The lack of self-reliance as it reacts upon the nation; 2a. The ideal of the self-reliant soul; 26. Hindrances to self-reliance in the individual. B. Means of attaining the ideal: 1. The relations between the self-reliant soul and universal Reason; 2. The importance of the self-reliant soul as an agent of moral courage. Suggestive questions: 1. To what nation is the appeal directed? 2. Why is lack of self-reliance moral cowardice? 3. How does the principle of Identity give unity to the whole essay? 4. Why does the last paragraph deserve to be called "the final trumpet call to faith"? COMPENSATION The ethical value of this essay and its relation to Emerson's whole teaching may be brought out clearly by grouping its ideas after the following outline. The working of the law of compensation. A. In nature; B. 1. On the wicked; 2. On the good. Suggestive questions: 1. What is crime in Emerson's view? 2. Can the inconsistency underlying the two divisions of B be reconciled? 3. What bearing has Emerson's optimism on this essay? 4. What is the unity of this essay? NATURE The statements drawn from the portion on Efficient Nature might well be collected and grouped under the following general principles. In no essay in the book do we come closer to Emerson's own statement of his faith. Parallels drawn between spiritual and physical laws: A. Evolution or development; a. In external nature, b. In man. B. Exaggeration; a. In external nature. b. In man. C. Compensation; a. In nature, b. In man. FRIENDSHIP There seems little necessity of analyzing this essay, as it has but one leading line of thought. Suggestive questions: 1. What in detail are the ideal relationships of two individuals in a friendship? (Use individual" in Emerson's meaning.) 2. Is there anything in his picture of friendship that undermines his constant insistence on a soul absolutely true to its own nature? 3. What type of man is capable of friendship in this large sense? 4. How does the doctrine of Identity underlie the thought of this essay? 5. What part do the emotions play in friendship as Emerson describes it? Is this wise or unwise? 6. Do Emerson's words of the advantage to the individual compensate for the aloofness this ideal involves? Defend your answer. 7. Emerson's idea of evolution in the physical world meant slow development or perfection. What bearing has the moral parallel of this law on his ideas of the ideal friendship? BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE (For a more complete bibliography see George W. Cooke's A Bibliography of Ralph W. Emerson, Boston and New York, 1908. There are bibliographical notes in the books by A. Ireland, R. Garnett, and M. Conway listed below.) I. Helpful material for an historical background in the study of Emerson will be found in convenient compass in:-Barrett Wendell, A Literary History of America, Book II., Chapter 5, and Book V., Chapters 1, 4 and 5. John Nichol, American Literature, Edinburgh, 1882, Chapters 8 and 9. C. E. Richardson, American Literature from 1607 to 1885, Chapters 8 and 9. W. P. Trent, A History of American Literature, 1905, Chapter 6, to which is appended a bibliography of the Transcendental movement, etc. II. TEXTS: The two standard editions of Emerson's works are:-The Riverside Edition, 12 volumes, and The Centenary Edition, 12 volumes. The latter is annotated in an interesting, personal way by Edward Waldo Emerson. III. BIOGRAPHY: Autobiographical material will be found in: Journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Boston, 1909, Edited by Edward Waldo Emerson and W. E. Forbes. Correspondence of Carlyle and Emerson, Boston, 1886, 2 volumes, Edited by C. E. Norton. Correspondence of Emerson and John Sterling, Boston, 1897, Edited by Edward Waldo Emerson. Correspondence between Ralph Waldo Emerson and Herman Grimm, Boston, 1903. Edited by F. W. Holls. Five early and valuable lives of Emerson are:-J. E. Cabot, A Memoir of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Boston, 1887, 2 volumes.. G. W. Cooke, Ralph Waldo Emerson, His Life, Writings, and Philosophy, Boston, 1881. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Boston, 1885. (American Men of Letters Series.) Alexander Ireland, In Memoriam-Ralph Waldo Emerson, xl |