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Emerson and Kerouac, 2002.
A paper which draws a parallel between two American writers, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Jean Louis Lebris de Kerouac (Jack).
2,414 words (approx. 9.7 pages), 15 sources, APA, $ 73.95
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Abstract
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Jean Louis Lebris de Kerouacwere both born near Boston, one hundred and twenty years apart. The paper shows however, that the similarities in their regard to literary history, as well as the connection between the two in regards to their lives and early writing, is sufficient enough to draw many parallels between them. It shows that both men, as writers and as citizens of America, felt compelled by their discontent and discouragement at the state of affairs in their country, to stake out new ground and develop a new relation to their society and the world at large.
From the Paper
"How does the Beat Generation and the America of the 1950?s compare with the social, political, and religious turmoil of the early America Emerson lived in? Both times in our country?s history were marked, to a large degree, by an unusual level of conformity. The youth generation?s reaction was to, not only fight against it, but to develop a completely alternate mode of consciousness with its own laws, its own set of values, and its own search for a ?new and original relation? to the universe. However, my argument is not to so much compare these two times in American history, but rather to show how the conditions of America in the 1950?s led to similar questions and similar quests among the youth generation. These questions and quests, when stripped down to a common denominator are essentially spiritual. ?By a generation,? wrote F.Scott Fitzgerald, ?I mean that reaction against fathers which seems to occur about three times a century. It is distinguished by a set ideas,[and] inherited in moderated form from the madmen and outlaws of the generation before.?1
For Kerouac, and other writers of the Beat Generation, the uncertainty, the provincialism, and social disintegration of Post World War II America, led to a feeling of shiftlessness, indifference, aversion to conformity, and the need to extract all that life had to offer. The green lawns and white picket fences of Middle Class America, the sense of security many people looked for in the aftermath of World War II, held no allure to Jack and his friends. Norman Mailer?s essay ?The White Negro? describes the Beat Generation as characterized by a quest ?to explore that domain of experience where security is boredom and therefore sickness.?2"
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Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac, 2002.
This essay looks at the life of beat writer Jack Kerouac, and his renowned work, "On the Road".
1,195 words (approx. 4.8 pages), 2 sources, $ 40.95
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Abstract
Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac
This paper is an analysis of On the Road, the most famous literary product of the Beat generation. The author looks at the life of the book's creator, Jack Kerouac, and his philosophies on life, and restless spirit as he wandered and searched for meaning in all Kerouac encountered.
From the paper:
"Though it is not the only work of his art, On the Road, for better or worse, has become Kerouac?s most famous novel. This book has performed as a means to meet the desires for a number of other people who feel to be having a restless and curious soul. The book itself initiated a cultural revolution, hence diverting about millions of people on new ideological channels. At the same time it arched Kerouac to a fame that he was never expecting and for which his calm, sacred soul was not prepared to deal with."
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Jack Kerouac: An American Icon, 2006.
An analysis of the life, work and legacy of the American novelist Jack Kerouac.
1,050 words (approx. 4.2 pages), 5 sources, MLA, $ 36.95
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Abstract
This paper discusses the life and writing of Jack Kerouac, the 1950s American author whose novel "On the Road" is considered a classic. The paper traces Kerouac's childhood in Massachusetts, including watershed events such as the death of his older brother. Then the paper analyzes the influence of the Beat Generation and other social phenomena on Kerouac's writing. The paper concludes with Kerouac's tragic demise from alcohol.
From the Paper
"The Beat Generation. The Fabulous Fifties. Elvis. Rock and Roll. The Communist Menace. And then there was author Jack Kerouac. He defined a restless, dynamic and evolving generation of angst-ridden adventurers, who were desperately searching for the true meaning of life in the embodiment of this complex muse. Kerouac exuded a James Dean-like persona - in the way he wrote about, and ultimately lived, his life. Agnes Machate writes of Kerouac and his fellow writers of the Beat Generation: "They did not seem to pay too much attention to what was socially practical; in this regard they were rebels. If being non-conformist met their need for freedom and let them express themselves the way the wanted, and allowed them to be what they wanted to be, they did not have to obey any rules. They wouldn't fit in a group, but instead, stand out, so they wouldn't conform just to avoid an unpleasant treatment from society." ("The Generation of Extremes" 1)."
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Emerson,"Self Reliance" and Social Contract, 2002.
Discusses 19th Century views on social contract, based on the writings of Emerson.
650 words (approx. 2.6 pages), 1 source, $ 26.95
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Abstract
Emerson's individualism appears radical when set against the biblical tradition, but it seems conservative to a late-twentieth-century observer in its inability to sever its connections to the sexism and racism that accompanied the inscription of Lockean individualism into the founding documents of the United States. The dominant discourse of that culture spoke in theory about liberty and justice for all individuals, but in practice in 1841 it defined the term "individual" in a strictly limited way. To be an individual was to be white, Christian, male and property-owning. In his public and private writings Emerson struggles to recognize and disavow the exclusion of women and blacks from the social contract, with mixed results. The purpose of this paper is to examine the context of the social contract within the writings of Emerson.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson, 2004.
A biography of the life of Ralph Waldo Emerson as a Transcendentalist and also as an abolitionist.
1,036 words (approx. 4.1 pages), 6 sources, MLA, $ 36.95
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Abstract
This paper examines the life of Ralph Waldo Emerson, born in Boston, Mass., on May 25, 1803, a philosopher, essayist, and poet. It looks at how Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the Transcendentalists, a group of thinkers that also included Henry David Thoreau, who were interested in a spirituality that had little to do with formalized religion. It also explores how he was an abolitionist and how he held true to his beliefs, taking action individually to advance his ideas regarding the remaking of his world into one more in accord with what he saw as the natural state of man. That natural state, for Emerson, included culture, freedom of religion, and considerate treatment of others. It looks at how it was only natural that he would extend its reach beyond the Native American to the American slave and how he reconciled those activities with his belief in individuality by viewing the abolitionist movement as a group of individuals acting on their own at the same time to accomplish a greatly desired change in their world.
From the Paper
"Perhaps the least known of Emerson?s actions taken to change his world concerned abolitionism. As early as 1844, Emerson was commenting in public on the ?Emancipation of the Negroes in the British West Indies,? which historians say was a departure from his previous thoughts on abolition. But that summer, he refined his thoughts on the divisive issue, and in keeping with his belief that action must follow thought, he became an active abolitionist, setting forth his beliefs in the Emancipation address in Concord, Mass., on August 1, 1844. Biographer Len Gougeon, in his book Virtue?s Hero: Emerson, Antislavery and Reform, concluded that with that speech, Emerson ?made the transition from antislavery to abolition.? (Quoted by Earhart, 1999)"
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Ralph Waldo Emerson and Jonathan, 2005.
A comparative analysis of life according to Ralph Waldo Emerson and Jonathan Edwards.
1,677 words (approx. 6.7 pages), 9 sources, MLA, $ 54.95
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Abstract
This paper discusses two great American thinkers: The nineteenth-century transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson and the eighteenth-century Puritan, Jonathan Edwards. The paper compares these two great thinkers, noting that Emerson's Romanticism era was based on the value of the individual and the beauty of the natural world, while Edwards' era focused on the Puritan idea of innate depravity and praise to God in heaven, and relates that this comparison thus illustrates how the mentalities of these scholars are profoundly dissimilar in several aspects. The paper then contrasts the philosophies of Edwards and Emerson by examining their views on man, spirituality and religion, and nature.
From the Paper
"The somewhat self-centered attitude portrayed in Emerson's work has led some to believe that he considers mankind as God's equal - as if the world, in Emerson's view, revolves around man's thoughts and feelings; however, Edwards' position is that human life is controlled and monitored by God Himself. In contrast to Emerson's idea of man being somewhat supreme beings whose ways are right if he believes them to be so, Edwards advocates the Puritan philosophy of innate depravity. In his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," Edwards insists that mankind as a whole is sinful in nature and must obtain salvation from above in order to be at peace. "Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it," Edwards states, "he depends upon himself for his own security; he flatters himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do" (501). "
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Emerson's Self Reliance and the American Spirit, 2002.
Discussion of Ralph Waldo Emerson's perspective and positive assesment of the American spirit.
650 words (approx. 2.6 pages), 3 sources, $ 26.95
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Abstract
The American Renaissance, and thus the American character, was shaped in great part by the transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emerson, which was expressed in his essay, "Self-Reliance". His essay begins with the recognition of the inherent individuality in man. It is, of course, non-conformity which is the result of this realization. The issue of conformity is an ironic one within the American culture - but the spirit of what Emerson wrote indeed is the embodiment of what is quintessentially American. The concept of self-determination and of total self-reliance is what filled the Pioneers in their Westward movement, it is what drove the creation of free capitalism, and is what has allowed our democracy to remain intact for more than two centuries. While Emerson did not create the non-conformity of the American spirit, he did capture it and glorify it.
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Concept Of Nature In Dickinson And Emerson, 2002.
Analysis of poet Emily Dickinson's view of nature & Ralph Waldo Emerson's ideas on nature.
4,275 words (approx. 17.1 pages), 10 sources, $ 135.95
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Analysis of poet Emily Dickinson's view of nature & Ralph Waldo Emerson's ideas on nature. Emerson's transcendental notion of the unity of nature, humanity and God. Dickinson's image of nature as antagonistic and mysterious. Discusses several poems by Dickinson. Emerson's conception of nature & the poet's role in understanding nature.
From the Paper
The relationship between Emily Dickinson's poetry and Ralph Waldo Emerson's ideas on nature and the poet's function is very complex. Despite Emerson's great influence on the poet and the similarity of their conceptions of the poet's role early in Dickinson's career she was eventually to go beyond his light-filled, hopeful conception of the relationship between humanity and nature in her concentration on the questions of loss and death that cast not just human existence but all of nature in a wholly different light. Dickinson did, of course, write many poems that reflected Emerson's Transcendental notion of the unity of humanity, nature, and god. But Emerson's was ultimately a serene conception in which the means of transcendence resided in that relationship among the aspects of creation--nature mediated, he believed, between humanity and deity. Even though Emerson
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Emerson, Dickinson, Whitman: Pathways to Discovery, 2005.
A comparison of the ideas of Ralph Waldo Emerson and the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman.
2,708 words (approx. 10.8 pages), 9 sources, MLA, $ 81.95
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Abstract
This paper examines how Ralph Waldo Emerson's association with the transcendental movement can be linked to the ideas he expressed in his essay, "Nature," where he emphasizes being true to oneself, individuality, and nonconformity. Emerson also explains his ideas regarding the soul and its connection with nature and God. It looks at how two poets whose work reflects this type of thinking are Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman and how these writers discover a path to self, soul, and identity through their experiences, ideas that can be traced to Emerson's writings.
From the Paper
"In his essay, "Nature" Ralph Waldo Emerson urges man to think independently. He opens his essay with by advancing the idea that that we consider for ourselves a "philosophy of insight and not of tradition" (Emerson 994). With this idea, he builds upon the theory that much of life is still left to be discovered, we must only be open to it and connect with it. The wide universe, according to Emerson, is composed of "nature and the soul" (994). Emerson held a profound respect for nature and its beauty. He states that when he is in the presence of nature, he "become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God" (996). Here we see how Emerson attempts to focus on nature as it manifests itself through his senses."
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Ralph Waldo Emerson, 2004.
A discussion on how Ralph Waldo Emerson?s later ?Self-Reliance? is far more likely to be appealing to American college students today than his early ?American Scholar?.
730 words (approx. 2.9 pages), 2 sources, MLA, $ 26.95
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This paper examines how Ralph Waldo Emerson?s transcendentalist philosophy shifted and changed over the course of his life. In particular, it looks at how Emerson?s ideas in his essays ?Self-Reliance? and ?The American Scholar? show profound shifts in judgment on what a human being and a thinker should aspire to be. It attempts to show that the Emerson that is most likely to be amenable to the sensibilities of college students today is likely to be that of his later essay upon ?Self-Reliance,? rather than his earlier ?The American Scholar,? which only manifests the later essay?s ideas in a half-formulated and a much more Christian-focused fashion.
From the Paper
"Today?s emphasis on postmodernism and the constant restructuring of one?s identity over the course of one?s educational existence makes the lack of consistency and the disdain for tradition expressed by Emerson in the earlier essay to be quite attractive to young college students. ?Else, to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another,? writes Emerson, if we do not constantly reexamine our own opinions. Emerson?s overall philosophy, as expressed in this essay, is that rather than looking to past, European models of excellence and artistic expression, young Americans must create their own, new models that are not hemmed in by past ideals. To live is to constantly reinvent one?s self and life."
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Lessons of Solitude in Emerson and Dickinson: "Listening to the Soul"., 2002.
Compares and contrasts Emily Dickinson's and Ralph Waldo Emerson's the perceptions and evaluations of solitude.
1,650 words (approx. 6.6 pages), 3 sources, $ 62.95
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This essay considers how philosopher and essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and poet Emily Dickinson, each reveal important revelations on the values of solitude. Emerson sees the person in isolation as a person who is nearer to his own soul, and so nearer to God; Dickinson reveals her isolation as a site for inspiration with the natural realities of life and death. While Emerson states clearly his ideas of the value of solitude for reflection, Dickinson poetically portrays her life of isolation in verse that reveals her inspirations of divinity.
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Ralph Waldo Emerson, 2006.
This paper discusses the philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson as exemplified in his "Divinity School Address" and his poem "The World is Too Much With Us".
1,245 words (approx. 5.0 pages), 4 sources, MLA, $ 42.95
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This paper explains that New England Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson believed in the power of nature so strongly that it influenced his thoughts on religion, self-reliance and the role of the scholar. The author points out that Emerson's belief in human nature determined his view that people must be individual and rely completely on their own understanding and truth; however, paradoxically, he also believed that nature makes everyone part of a universal being or truth. The paper concludes that Emerson was certain that human nature is perfect within all people and must be allowed to have a free voice unfettered by the opinions of societies, the restrictions of organized religion and the weight of scholarship.
From the Paper
"Emerson loved the beauty of nature and found the presence of the sublime when he contemplated the pure air and scenery. He frequently describes nature in terms that prove his delight. Comparisons to the sophisticated life of the city always show the superiority of the natural world in his writings. The most powerful aspect of nature is that it is not concerned with the past or the future, it is simply content to be what is in its nature. Emerson insisted that man should feel the same way."
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Emerson: A Man of Hope or a Man of Genius, 2004.
A discussion regarding the ideas of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
1,292 words (approx. 5.2 pages), 2 sources, MLA, $ 43.95
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This paper explores Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote " Man hopes. Genius creates" from his speech "The American Scholar". The paper references both "The American Scholar" and "Self-Reliance" and uses various excerpts of Emerson's writing to portray him both as a genius as well as a man of hope. The paper also discusses a very interesting and thought provoking paradox within Emerson's philosophy.
From the Paper
"The American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson states in his speech "The American Scholar" that "Man hopes. Genius Creates." (Emerson, 517) In these four words, Emerson defines the common quality of a man is to hope while the genius takes action and creates. Emerson himself is an amalgamation of a genius and a man. He demonstrates both of these qualities in his essay entitled "Self-Reliance" as well as in "The American Scholar." Both dissertations contain in them moments of creative genius and moments of mere hope. The action of hoping, however, is an essential and initial phase of genius. Hope is a precursor to genius. Genius is achieving a solution and acting upon it."
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Emerson and Thoreau, 2001.
This essay is a brief look at the transcendentalist movement in literature accredited to Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau.
675 words (approx. 2.7 pages), 2 sources, MLA, $ 24.95
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This paper discusses the works of Thoreau and Emerson and the birth of the transcendentalist movement in U.S. literature. The author looks at Emerson's essay "Self Reliance" and "The American Scholar" and Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" and "Walden".
From the Paper
"Henry Thoreau and Ralph Emerson were two of the romantic American writers of the transcendentalist movement, which in essence stresses that less is more, that nature is to be studied, to be a true intellect you must read the classics and that living a life off the beaten path is more satisfying than one on the beaten path. Though Emerson began his writings first, Thoreau and Emerson are both credited with this movement. Emerson was clearly the founder of this initial movement, but Thoreau?s writings were also critically acclaimed."
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Nature and Emerson and Dickinson, 2002.
This paper discusses the complex relationship between Emily Dickinson's and Ralph Waldo Emerson's ideas on nature as reflected in their poetry.
5,175 words (approx. 20.7 pages), 10 sources, MLA, $ 129.95
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This author believes that despite Ralph Waldo Emerson's great influence on Emily Dickinson and the similarity of their conceptions of the poet's role, she goes beyond his light-filled, hopeful conception of the relationship between humanity and nature. This paper discusses Emerson's serene conception of nature in which transcendence resides in the relationship between humanity and deity. This paper analyzes several of Dickinson's poems to demonstrate that she was far more skeptical and believed that, no matter how deeply and carefully one might read into nature, it retains its mystery.
From the Paper
"In "The Rhodora," as Tuerk points out, the speaker's encounter with the flower "immediately results not from his own volition but in response to the sea-winds' piercing" of his solitude (6). The human being, the speaker, is shown at once to be fully entwined with the physical world and apart from it only by virtue of his perceptive and reflective capabilities. Therefore, human activities and the unmotivated natural forces are shown to intermingle. The 'force' of the wind that drives him is equaled, however, by the mere sight of the rhodora and beauty is shown to operate, therefore, as a force with a power perhaps even greater than anything merely physical in nature. The flower is then described in terms of its interaction with its surroundings--spreading, pleasing, dropping its petals, blackening the water, and being courted by the bird that might be attracted by it. This array of beautiful sights draws the speaker's attention in much the same way that it might eventually attract the imaginary bird."
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