Ralph Waldo Emerson's Nature (1836)

Nine Sections:

1. Introduction

2. Nature

3. Commodity

4. Beauty

5. Language

6. Discipline

7. Idealism

8. Spirit

9. Prospects

Possible Genres:

• Part philosophy

• Part sermon

• Part poetry

"The book was Emerson's fullest statement concerning the relationship between man and the natural world, as well as the relationship between matter and spirit" (655).

"The book reveals Emerson's deep concern about the role of nature, both in individual lives and in American life" (655).

The book also reveals the impact of Emerson's reading:

• the British writer, Samuel Taylor Coleridge

• the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant

The "Understanding" -- a rational faculty of the mind dependent on sense experience.

The "Reason" -- an "inward beholding" or intuitive apprehension of spiritual truth.

"Emerson's nature is thus comprised of a series of 'signs,' which for those who develop the ability to read them ultimately lead to the recognition of a spiritual reality that transcends nature" (655).

The book emphasizes "the power of human intuition and the inexhaustible significance of nature" (655).

"Nature articulates many fundamental premises of transcendentalism even as it posits a way of being in and reading the world as a poet and an intellectual. The essay articulates Emerson's idealistic, philosophical views on the relationship of self to others, to the world, to language, and to God" (editors).

"Similarly, 'The American Scholar' and 'Self-Reliance' articulate a model for the poet-intellectual's daily participation in American society" (editors).

Consider these contexts:

• Emerson's relatively privileged socioeconomic position

• the rapid growth, industrialization, and expansion of the United States

• the issue of slavery

• the relative newness of the nation and its national literature