An analysis of Emerson's prose

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803— 1882) is one of the most influential figures in the history of American thought and literature. Emerson was born into a pastor's family in Boston, but his father died when he was eight years old, and his family began to be difficult. His widowed mother worked hard to raise and educate her five sons. Emerson studied at Boston Latin School and Harvard University. 182 1 After graduating from Harvard University, he taught for several years. 1825 went to Harvard Theological Seminary. 1829 was appointed as the pastor of the Second Church in Boston. Although he was competent in his work and popular in preaching, his independent spirit did not conform to the Christian norms at that time, so he resigned on his own initiative at 1832. Then he traveled to Europe three times, visited Coleridge, Wordsworth and other great English romantic poets, and became lifelong friends with the prose master Carlyle. After his first European tour, he settled in Concord, not far from Boston, and later became a "saint" in Concord. He established a transcendentalist club there and discussed philosophy, theology and literature with some scholars such as Thoreau and Hawthorne. After that, he devoted himself to reading and writing, gave lectures in many places, and did not hold any specific positions except editing the sector publication sundial from 1842 to 1844. Emerson's prose works, except for the thin Nature and some articles that are not included in the collection, are mostly lecture notes. The most famous lectures are American scholars (1837) and seminary lectures (1838). The former was praised by Emerson's contemporary famous writer and Harvard professor Holmes as the "Declaration of Independence of Thought" of the United States. Imirie Weng believes that American scholars should break the rules and understand the truth by studying nature, practical actions, and especially intuition. Scholars must combine contemporary talents, past contributions and future expectations. Scholars should be free and brave, turn life into truth and be spokesmen of their own times. Seminary lectures aim at declaring religious independence. Emerson has repeatedly stressed that man and nature have spiritual unity, and man can communicate directly with God without intermediary. He emphasized moral feelings and religious feelings. He believes that the greatest secret of a priest is to turn life into truth, not formalism and rigid and empty preaching. This speech offended religious people at that time, because it attacked the traditional religion of formalism and advocated intuitive spiritual experience. Harvard University has not invited him to give lectures in the school for nearly 30 years. Essays: The first set (184 1) and essays: the second set (1844) are also dealt with on the basis of handouts. The first episode includes twelve articles (this book selects six articles such as history); The second episode contains nine articles (four selected articles in this book, such as The Poet). These two books established Emerson's reputation. Although these twenty articles have different topics, they all run through the central idea of so-called "transcendentalism": First, they emphasize the highest value of the soul. The sacred soul exists in everyone, which is the same. Everyone has a sacred spark and the means to acquire all knowledge. God is oversoul. The oversoul can enter everyone's soul unimpeded, and everyone's soul can also enter the oversoul unimpeded, and everyone can communicate with God. Second, it emphasizes nature, and thinks that nature is the image or external expression of the soul, the projection of God, and "the great shadow that God casts on our senses". Every natural law has a corresponding object in people's mind, so natural law and spiritual law are completely corresponding. Material factors are very similar to spiritual factors, but the former represents lower-level activities. Third, to fully display the ability of the individual soul, the individual is the only tool to discover the truth. Everyone must be a firm pursuer, and he must discover God for himself by completely obeying or completely trusting his personal intuition. Therefore, Emerson emphasized that independent and self-help individuals should turn to personal introspection and personal experience instead of relying on tradition and others. The representative published in 1850 is also a set of speeches, with a total of seven articles. This book selects four articles about Plato, Swedenburg (the name is unfamiliar to readers in China), Montaigne and Shakespeare. These four people have the greatest influence on Emerson, and they are also mentioned most frequently in many articles. This book is obviously similar to his friend Carlyle's Heroes, Heroic Worship and Heroic Deeds in History (184 1). However, Carlyle worships great men and appreciates their ruthless pursuit of power and control over the masses. Emerson called great men "representatives" because he thought they were representatives of their respective times and people. This is similar to our view that times make heroes. "British characteristics" is what he saw and felt during his two visits to Britain at 1832 and 1847. He gave a speech at 1848 and published a book at 1856. The book consists of 19 chapters, of which 12 chapter is selected from this book. A few years ago, CCTV broadcasted a series of feature films with the general title "The Rise of Great Powers", including a part about the rise of Britain. I think "British Characteristics" will be of great help to readers to understand this nation, and its effect is far better than ordinary historical works and national conditions. 1860, Emerson published another collection of essays, Principles of Life, which was also compiled from lecture notes. Emerson was also a poet. He has published two poems, which are full of philosophy and unique. However, Emerson's greatest achievement is prose. His prose, like Bacon's, is full of epigrams and aphorisms. For example, when he advocated individualism, he wrote in different articles: "Strictly speaking, there is no history, only biography." "The history of civilization and natural history, art history and literature history must be explained from the perspective of personal history, otherwise it is empty talk." "Every real person is a cause, a country and an era; He needs unlimited space, number of people and time to complete his vision-and future generations are like a series of followers, following in his footsteps. " When he preached "self-help", he said: "So whoever wants to be a man must never be obedient." "Stick to yourself; Never imitate. " "Travel is a fool's paradise." His transcendentalist view is: "The universe is alive. Everything is moral. If the soul is an emotion in our heart, then it is a law outside us. " However, Emerson's prose is quite different from Bacon in many other respects. They are not as short and pithy as Bacon's prose, but as irresistible as the Mississippi River, which reminds people of Whitman's poems. Emerson wrote, "When God speaks, he should convey not one thing, but everything." Therefore, his article is full of all his viewpoints, and he can't take into account the transition of paragraphs and the order of levels. His article is full of passion, not as objective and calm as bacon. So people agree that Emerson's articles are based on sentences. Emerson didn't form a systematic philosophy system, but he was well versed in it. He integrated Greek Plato's classical philosophy, German idealism philosophy, French eclecticism philosophy, Indian mysticism philosophy and China's Confucius and Mencius philosophy, and formed his own ideological style and article style. Emerson studied, wrote and spoke tirelessly all his life. He experienced a lot of bereavement in his personal life, but he always pulled himself together. His optimism is reflected everywhere in his works, which is also the embodiment of American national spirit. In addition to publishing a large number of essays, poems and speeches, he spent most of his life writing diaries and notes. In fact, many of his articles are processed on the basis of his diaries and notes. Later generations compiled his diary into ten volumes and published it. Someone put a diary and notes together, sixteen volumes. His letter has six volumes. These materials are extremely valuable for the study of Emerson. Emerson's thoughts influenced his contemporaries, such as Thoreau, Whitman, Dickinson and other first-class writers, and poets in the 20th century, such as E.A. Robinson, Frost, Stevens and Hart Crane, were deeply influenced by him. His contemporaries, Melville and Hawthorne, were both inspired by him to discuss the same problem from different angles, although they didn't agree with him.

Pulong was born in Lanzhou in 2008 1 month.