Journal 8 - Emerson’s Aphorisms
Write a one paragraph personal response based on three of the following aphorisms. Your responses should address the point Emerson is making as well as your thoughts/feelings about what he is saying.
In aphorism number 5 Emerson is saying that in order to be great or something special you must be different and unique. People do not always understand others who are different or stand out, but those unique people end up doing great things that “normal” people would not. This inspires me to be who I really am and not change into a different person just because other people want me to. I should always be myself no matter what others think of me because one day I might aspire to greater things than them.
In aphorism 9 he is saying that what you see on the outside may not be hat is on the inside. People judge by what they see on first look before judging on what is on the inside. Just because the “weed” or person may look like nothing on the outside you may have thing still to discover on the inside. This makes me think about myself and how I think of other people. It makes me want to try harder to look past the outside and not judge so much.
In aphorism 13 Emerson is saying that we must take chances. Life is about living and doing anything and everything you can. Without these “experiments” in life, it would not be much of a fulfilled life. This makes me feel like I should go for anything I want to do and not be scared of failure. Every experience or chance I get to do something I should take it. You must always take chances.
1. Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.
2. Keep cool: it will all be one a hundred years hence.
3. Society acquires new arts, and loses old instincts.
4. We boil at different degrees.
5. To be great is to be misunderstood.
6. There are always two parties; the establishment and the movement.
7. When Nature has work to be done, she creates a genius to do it.
8. In skating over thin ice, our safety is in our speed.
9. What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not been discovered.
10. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesman and philosophers and divines.
11. What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.
12. All sensible people are selfish, and nature is tugging at every contract to make the terms of it fair.
13. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
14. The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one.
15. The god of the cannibals will be a cannibal, of the crusaders a crusader, and of the merchants a merchant.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Journal #7
Journal Assignment #7
William Cullen Bryant’s “To a Waterfowl” (p.151) and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” (p.181)
Read the selections and write a detailed response to the following:
1. Compare/contrast the different views of nature that are being presented in the poems. Refer to the list of classical and romantic characteristics and provide specific examples from the poems to support your analysis.
These two poems are very different from one another in their meaning or content but have some similarities as well. The difference between these poems is that “To a Waterfowl” is a more optimistic and peaceful poem while “The Raven” is dark and depressing. One makes you feel good while the other makes you feel bad. These poems have two different views of the world. The most important decisions are either based on logic or your heart. The waterfowl embodies rationality, and balance and more of the leading your choices with logic. The Raven uses emotion and imagination leading more with your heart.
Also, both poems have views on nature but these views are different. In the raven nature is evil or indifferent to his suffering. He thinks it is harmful and torturing him. Nature in “To a Waterfowl” poem makes the writer think of his own life and God and the beauty of nature instead of the darkness of it. The author’s views of nature are very different.
The authors writing styles are also different. The waterfowl is more plain writing while “The Raven” is more ornate. The waterfowl is straight forward unlike the confusion and no resolution in the Raven. Also, both authors write in first person point of view. The setting in these poems is also different. The waterfowl has this sunset that brings a feeling of peace and beauty. In “The Raven” the bird is in the house and not in nature, making the author not interact with nature at all but the animal terrorizing him.
In “The Raven” the writer is dealing with an internal conflict in his mind while the waterfowl speaker comes away with an answer saying if you follow your heart God will lead you in the right direction. The waterfowl symbolizes God and his power of guidance. In the Raven the speaker is looking for that type of feeling but instead the bird keeps telling him “Nevermore” and that there is no afterlife, no heaven, and that he will never be reunited with Lenore.
There are few similarities in the writings but there are some. They are both about birds interacting with a person. There is some type of message the bird, or nature, gives to the person whether it is good or bad.
William Cullen Bryant’s “To a Waterfowl” (p.151) and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” (p.181)
Read the selections and write a detailed response to the following:
1. Compare/contrast the different views of nature that are being presented in the poems. Refer to the list of classical and romantic characteristics and provide specific examples from the poems to support your analysis.
These two poems are very different from one another in their meaning or content but have some similarities as well. The difference between these poems is that “To a Waterfowl” is a more optimistic and peaceful poem while “The Raven” is dark and depressing. One makes you feel good while the other makes you feel bad. These poems have two different views of the world. The most important decisions are either based on logic or your heart. The waterfowl embodies rationality, and balance and more of the leading your choices with logic. The Raven uses emotion and imagination leading more with your heart.
Also, both poems have views on nature but these views are different. In the raven nature is evil or indifferent to his suffering. He thinks it is harmful and torturing him. Nature in “To a Waterfowl” poem makes the writer think of his own life and God and the beauty of nature instead of the darkness of it. The author’s views of nature are very different.
The authors writing styles are also different. The waterfowl is more plain writing while “The Raven” is more ornate. The waterfowl is straight forward unlike the confusion and no resolution in the Raven. Also, both authors write in first person point of view. The setting in these poems is also different. The waterfowl has this sunset that brings a feeling of peace and beauty. In “The Raven” the bird is in the house and not in nature, making the author not interact with nature at all but the animal terrorizing him.
In “The Raven” the writer is dealing with an internal conflict in his mind while the waterfowl speaker comes away with an answer saying if you follow your heart God will lead you in the right direction. The waterfowl symbolizes God and his power of guidance. In the Raven the speaker is looking for that type of feeling but instead the bird keeps telling him “Nevermore” and that there is no afterlife, no heaven, and that he will never be reunited with Lenore.
There are few similarities in the writings but there are some. They are both about birds interacting with a person. There is some type of message the bird, or nature, gives to the person whether it is good or bad.
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