Finish reading and discussing questions on Walden from yesterday's class.
Post your responses to the questions here.
Review the topics from last year for your 5-7 page paper on Transcendentalism. Think about your topic and come in with a possible topic tomorrow to discuss.
“Nature”
1. In Emerson’s view, how do adults and children view nature
differently?
2. How do changing seasons affect nature lovers?
3. What does Emerson mean when he states, “Nature always
wears the colors of the spirit”? Do you agree with him; why
or why not?
4. What, do you think, is the difference between the meaning
Emerson finds in nature and the meaning a scientist finds?
“Self‐Reliance”
1. According to Emerson, what is genius?
2. How does Emerson describe society? What is his opinion of
it?
3. According to Emerson, how does society affect what people
value?
4. Under what circumstances might conformity be wise?
When might it be foolish?
“Will you be a reader, a student merely, or a seer?” open's Thoreau's passage on sound. The quote suggests that Thoreau encourages his reader not to be pacified by simple book reading, but to teach themselves through the observation of sights and particularly sounds. While he hears the sounds of railroads and church bells as literal sounds with no meaning, sounds like the owl hooting take on special symbolic significance. Thoreau writes that the owls manic hooting reminds him of man's pointless fumbling through their meaningless lives.
ReplyDeleteHannah Matthew Tim Dominic