1. What exactly does Emerson mean in Nature when he writes, "Every man's� condition is a solution in hieroglyphic to those inquiries he would put" (440)? How does this comment relate to his thesis about nature?
 
 
2. What distinction does Emerson make between Nature in the philosophical and common senses? Does Emerson's𠏋 insistence that this distinction is unimportant still make sense in today's� world? Why or why not?

 

3. What does Emerson mean when he says he becomes "a transparent eye-ball" (442)?

 
4. How does Emerson's essay combine philosophical and poetic insight?

5. If Nature is a manifesto for a new, "original relationship" with nature, what elements of the work function as a manifesto?

6. Nature is a manifesto for a new, "original relationship" with nature, what is that new relationship, what are its terms?

7. How does this new relationship compare with Crevecoeur's "new man"?

8. What does Emerson say is the relationship between language and natural facts? What does this relationship reveal about the relationship between human beings and spirit?

9. Compare "The Rhodora" with Freneau's "To a Wild Honeysuckle" and Bryant's "To a Yellow Violet," "To a Fringed Gentian," and "To a Waterfowl."

10. What is the "theme" or "message" of "The Sphinx" and of "Each and All"? How and where are these ideas expressed in Nature?

11. What similarities do you find between Emerson's ideas and those of Chinese philosophy and religion?

 

American Literature Survey I: Ron Tranquilla
American Literature and Visual Art : Joseph C. Murphy