Selected Essays - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The Universal Soul"

Reading/Discussion Schedule

November 29: Nature, The American Scholar

December 3: Self-Reliance, The Over-Soul, Circles

December 6: The Transcendentalist, The Poet, Experience

November 29 

1. Which is the best description of Nature - a verb? or a noun?
2. Explain each of the following statements:

   "Each particle is a microcosm, and faithfully renders the likeness of the world?"

   "The reason why the world lacks unity, and lies broken and in heaps, is because man is disunited with himself."

   "In self-trust all the virtues are comprehended."?

December 3

1. Is self-reliance the same as autonomy of the will?
2. Where does genius come from?
3. Which of the Great Books authors we have read this semester are "conformists"?
4. Draw a picture that captures the following - yourself, God, the Over-Soul.
5. What circles are a part of your life?
6. Where is the center of the Circles essay? What is the radius? Where is the circumference?
7. Identify your favorite quote from the Circles essay.

December 6

Meet at Corral Canyon/Dan Blocker Beach at 10, rain or shine. Bring Emerson.

1. Which of the following  are transcendentalists: Kant, the creature, nature, the self-reliant, pre-fall Eve, Crusoe?
2. How is the poet like a creator?
3. How is the poet a genius?
4. How is the poet the ultimately free man?
5. Which thread of the loom of time is greatest?
6. What is the difference between the world of experience and the world of thinking?

Two Emersonian Pages - Due 12.07.07 @ 5:00 p.m.