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(2013
midterm assignment) Sample Student Midterm Answers 2013 #2a: Short Essay (Favorite Passage) |
LITR 4232 |
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Amanda Duarte
Part 2 A:
Connecting with Nature
I chose Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Nature” because in such a short essay, Emerson is
able to speak to a wide audience. When he wrote the essay, the industrial
revolution was taking place so the settlers were experiencing the loss of
closeness to nature and more fiercely gained a never-ending desire to be close
to it once more. This essay will discuss the connection a background in history
has with literature and then examine how Emerson addresses the human’s desire
and loss for nature.
Although there isn’t a direct connection in the text that shows this loss, with
a historical background, readers can make that connection when Emerson speaks of
the “charming landscape…made up of twenty or thirty farms,” the once untouched
and forested land has now been industrialized, that is, made into many farms
(ch.1 pp. 9). When thinking of the land before, during, and after the industrial
revolution, one can project that there has been a loss in the connection of man
to nature. This loss of purity, so to speak, leads to a desire for it once
again. And the destruction of nature by man, only leads to man’s desire for
pureness. I think that throughout the course of time, this work of literature
will continue to speak to a range of audiences because humans will always have a
desire to be closer to nature/purity. Emerson says that the “universe is
composed of nature and the soul” and that humans should be ranked under the name
“nature” (Intro. pp. 5). This supports the idea of humans having a lasting, and
unfulfilling desire to be closer to nature because by falling under the rank of
“nature,” a person or creature would naturally desire a connection to the purity
of its rank.
Although man has disrupted nature, since his existence, nature will always
remain pure.
Paragraph ten exerts the theme that nature has a purity and innocence that is
untouched by man, “To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature…The sun
illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of
the child.” By writing this paragraph, it is as if he is trying to reclaim
something that is lost, just as childhood innocence is lost at some point in our
maturing. Why is it that few adults can see nature? One possibility is that life
is so hectic that we don’t “stop and smell the roses,” something as simple as
taking a moment out of your day to enjoy the warm summer breeze, or that moment
of pure bliss when the sun rays peep through the clouds brings such an
indescribable mix of emotions; sublimity at its finest.
In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real
sorrows. Nature says,—he is my creature…Not the sun or the summer alone, but
every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change
corresponds
to and authorizes a different state of the mind…
Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece. In good
health, the air is a cordial of incredible virtue.
When talking about man in the presence of nature, the feeling of sublimity is
obvious. Perhaps this we desire nature so much because we belong to nature. We
take delight in it, and it corresponds so well to our every situation, emotion,
and possibly even more than that.
Emerson was able to relate his essay to a vast audience and in so few words. In
order for a person to understand a work of literature they must carefully
analyze it; making a knowledge of history important. But even if someone did not
have a historical background I believe his essay still relays the connection
that man, nature, and desire have with one another. Having knowledge of history
eases the analytical process of literature, but what makes this work continue to
flourish is that people are still able to relate to “Nature” even without it,
even though a particular work is not a historical romance.
