Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the most important figures in the history of American literature. He lived through the age known as the ‘Flowering of America’ He had the distinction of being the ‘Man thinking of the New England Renaissance’. He published his essays in two different series: First and Second Series published in 1814 and 1844. Each of Emerson’s essays has a sense of rising intensity in both meaning and form. As Matthew Arnold point out as,
“Emerson’s
essays are I think
as they
seemed to the wisest
English
critic of the nineteenth
century, the
most important
work done
in English prose
of that century.”
‘The American Scholar’ represents Emerson at the exuberant beginning of
his career as a transcendental spokesman. In August 1837, Emerson delivered
before the ‘president and gentlemen of the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Harvard
College the address which O.W. Holmes characterized as ‘our intellectual
Declaration of Independence’. The address was published as a pamphlet in 1837;
republished in 1838; and published again in England in 1814 as Man Thinking.
‘The
American Scholar’ hurled a challenge amidst a planet people with
conservative, one reforms may be born. Having
heard the present address, Lowell called it ‘our Yankee version of a
lecture by Abelard. He remarked it as “Event
without any former parallel in our literary annals.”
‘The
American Scholar’ is Emerson’s a gauntlet thrown to certain established
institutions. Emerson anticipated particularly from the clergy, the violence of
the inevitable response. He was speaking with deliberate intention to shock,
but in carefully considered langue. He was challenging his audience not
announcing measured and final truth. To assess ‘The America Scholar ’in a word
of L. Ludwig,
‘The Essay
has been referred to
as a
declaration of independence
from
literary Colonialism-if read
and taken
to heart on any
American
campus today would
cause an
intellectual riot and
extra
meetings of solemn trustees.”
The
essay begins with the formal greetings to ‘Mr. President and gentleman’ as an
address delivered on the recommencement of the literary year. The period
of literary independence for America has begun and the American Scholar must be
the best use of his opportunities. American day of dependence and long apprenticeship
to the learning of other lands draws to a close. So He must come up to the
ideal of ‘Man Thinking’.
He must no longer feed himself with the harvest of other lands but must read
and sing of the events of his own country.
Emerson shows the various sources of
education open to the American scholar- Nature, books and his own actions
as sources of his education. The influence of Nature is the first and foremost
influence that engages the scholar always fresh and vital. Let him open out his
soul to nature and the influence of nature will flow into him and would mould
his soul. In this way, he will become aware of the oneness of the human soul
and the soul of nature. Books representing the mind of the past are the
second important influence that operates on the mind of the scholar. A great
educative influence on the spirit of the scholar is the mind of the past and
books are the best type of the influence of past. According to Emerson.
“Books
are thus a record of the
immortal
truths discovered by
scholars of part.”
The
scholar should study books, but he should also liberate his mind from slavery
to the authority of books. Action is essential for the scholar. Without
action, the scholar is not yet man.
Without action thought
can never ripe into truth. Only action can complete thought.
Actions are the
sources of vocabulary he needs. Action is diction. Without resources and raw
material he wouldn’t understand the value of labour. Life without acting has no
value at all
Emerson
is well aware of the duties of American Scholar. His duties should be
suitable and have matching to his thinking. All those duties may be summing up
in the expressing ‘self-truth’. Emerson considers the prime duty of a scholar
is: ‘to cheer, to raise and to guide man by showing them facts of observation’.
Self-trust
and self-realization must be acquitted by the scholar. It is his most
important duty not to submit to popular opinions. It will be necessary for him
to have full confidence in himself. Self-confidence and conviction are the keys
to success in every sphere of life. This is the secret of the success of great
poets and orators.
The
scholar should be free and brave. He should not tolerate any hindrances.
He must boldly face the difficulties that come in his way, and overcome them.
He must free himself from all weakness and fear. “Fear always springs from ignorance.” The American scholar must
have so much confident in himself as to be able to influence world with his
idea and free other from fear.
“It is
not the man who can
alter
matter who is great,
the great
man is he who
can alter
the state of mind
of other.”
Many
Ideas prevail upon the society which are often ruin the society. e.g. money and
power. Both money and power are ‘the spoil of office. People think money would
bring power and it would bring highest good. It is duty of the scholar to erase
such ideas and bring about an awakening. Right views will reach to the
souls and so he should do the same.
Such a revolution in the minds of people can be
brought about the gradual spreading of the idea of culture. A golden age seems
to be at hand. The scholar must contribute his bit to the ushering in
the golden age. He must take up into himself all the ability of times because
no man in world is either willing or able to help any other man. Help must come
from one’s own bosom alone.
“The
world is nothing, the
man is
all; in yourself is
the law
of nature, and you
know not
yet how a globule
of ascends.”
+If
that is done, the American people will work with their own hands and will speak
their own mind. The essays end with prophetic utterance regarding the future
that awaits the American nation.
To
summing up, the essay “American
Scholar” is a declaration of independence from literary Colonialism. The
American Scholar must carry out his noble task with patience, courage and
determination. The essay has remained revolutionary in bringing American
Flowering. Holmes describes as it ‘this grand oration’. Finally to conclude in
the words of Carlyle as he wrote to Emerson after reading the essays.
+I could
have wept to read
that
speech; the clear high
melody of
it went tingling
through
my heart; I said to
my wife!”
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