Emerson Defines Beauty in The Poet
Just what is beauty? We all have our own definition of beauty because everyone has there own distinctive style and attractiveness. Therefore, we must respect why some people find beauty in things while others would not simply because beauty is truly in the eyes of the beholder. Now we all are attracted to all sorts of things, but have you ever asked yourself why? Is it simply because it is beautiful or does the meaning go beyond that? I tend to believe the latter is true so lets take love for example. It is the most beautiful thing in the world because you get a sense of being, are likely attracted to the person you are in love with, it stimulates you and you probably feel complete. However, beauty does not always have to be attractive or unique it is what taps into your emotions and causes you to want more and more.
Emerson defines beauty in a totally different light. He believes that only a poet can truly capture beauty because only a poet has the vision, words and intelligence to interpret events and put them into a form that is so appealing to the eyes of readers. Emerson does have a point that poets do have a way with words, but what about the average individual? Everyone has their own way of expressing feelings, needs and emotion, and that is the beauty of it all.
On the other hand Emerson argues that poets can only truly define beauty and express it with elegant wording. In addition, he believes that everyday events of life are beautiful when he says, "And this hidden truth, that the fountains whence all this river of Time, and its creatures floweth, are intrinsically ideal and beautiful, draws us to the consideration of the nature and functions of the Poet, or the man of Beau...
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...eauty because he sees it, understands it and thoughts of it roll off his head and never stop coming.
Beauty is and will always stimulate the mind. Ultimately the burden lies in the poets hands to paint a picture which in turn will stimulate the readers imagination, and the reader may even find a deeper meaning if the poet writes a poem so effectively that the reader is left wondering and questioning themselves. Everyone has a different definition of beauty and that is perfectly fine because no two people are the same. Beauty may not always be appealing at first but since a poet has a way with words and thoughts he could probably turn just about anything into a new light and thus seen as beautiful.
WORKS CITED
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. The Poet. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. 3rd ed. Ed. Paul Lauter. Boston, New york: houghton mifflin, 1998.
In “Part One: The Negro and the City,” Osofsky describes the early Black neighborhoods of New York City, in the lower parts of Manhattan: from Five Points, San Juan Hill, and the Tenderloin. He describes the state of Black community of New York in the antebellum and postbellum, and uses the greater United States, including the Deep South, as his backdrop for his microanalysis of the Blacks in New York. He paints a grim picture of little hope for Black Americans living in New York City, and reminds the reader that despite emancipation in the north long before the Civil War, racism and prejudices were still widespread in a city where blacks made up a small portion of the population.
Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-1882. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter. Boston: Houghton, 1998. 1578-1690.
Ever wonder what it would look like to have all students wearing the same white polo shirt, black pants, and a district sweater walking in the hallway? Nowadays, public school and many districts are discussing the possibilities of enforcing the uniform policy. In most places, many private schools already require students to have their mandatory uniforms; however, there are only a few public schools adopting this mandatory school-uniform polices as one of their enrollment requirements. The reason why not all public schools participated was because people believe that they are violating the freedom of choice when enforcing this mandatory uniform policy; yet problems such as bullying and segregation, emerged in these schools. Some people still think uniforms have no benefits at all. However, all public school students should be required to wear uniforms because it would improve the academic performance, reduce the violent behaviors based on appearance judgment, and provide less stress for both parents and students.
Dress codes have become a typical affair for public schools. The weight of this matter only gets heavier with time, as fashion trends evolve with haste. Accordingly, the debate for and against dress codes still stands. This essay will summarize, make an argument, and analyze Krystal Miller 's article "School Dress Codes."
There are many different themes that can be used to make a poem both successful and memorable. Such is that of the universal theme of love. This theme can be developed throughout a poem through an authors use of form and content. “She Walks in Beauty,” by George Gordon, Lord Byron, is a poem that contains an intriguing form with captivating content. Lord Byron, a nineteenth-century poet, writes this poem through the use of similes and metaphors to describe a beautiful woman. His patterns and rhyme scheme enthrall the reader into the poem. Another poem with the theme of love is John Keats' “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” meaning “the beautiful lady without mercy.” Keats, another nineteenth-century writer, uses progression and compelling language throughout this poem to engage the reader. While both of these poems revolve around the theme of love, they are incongruous to each other in many ways.
Emerson starts with a description of one who has the ideal relationship with nature, "The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood." Emerson is saying that man needs to retain wonder of nature, a quality often lost as a person ages. People become too distracted by petty conflicts that in Emerson's eyes, are ultimately insignificant.
Emerson’s Eloquence written in 1870 doctrines that any man that can speak can sing. It is an art form that has the ability to move the people. The article highlights Emerson’s belief that the mastery of the art of literature is not focused on one’s ability to dominate but to propagate. “Hence, him we call an artist who can play on an assembly of men as a master on the keys of the piano, - who, seeing the people furious, shall soften and compose them, shall draw them, when he will, to laughter and to tears” (Hanlon, 74). I believe that Emerson was really confirming that a true author is an artist, who is able to convey a point in a clear and moving way. The article also discusses Emerson’s interpretation of Plato’s definition of rhetoric to be “the art of ruling the minds of men” (Hanlon, 74). The compilation of those quotes gives me the understanding that Emerson has established or has at least had the ability to control the emotions of readers and listeners through the art of literature.
Parents and their children are constantly arguing about the way students dress in school. This debate has become a national conversation which has been going on for more than a decade. However, there still hasn’t been a final resolution. The questions “Why do I have to wear the uniform today?” or “Can I wear this t-shirt because the color matches with my school t-shirt?” have become part of our everyday lives. Before we go any further, we have to understand the difference between uniforms and dress codes. A uniform is simply a garment worn that is the same in all cases and at all times. Whereas, a dress code is a set of rules regarding the required manner of clothing in a certain context. For instance, a school might not allow students to wear
Many opposing views feel that uniforms are a “Band-Aid Approach” to more serious problems throughout the school community says Bárbara C. Cruz. (43) These are problems like violence, bullying and poor academic behavior. Said by a high school junior “Uniforms would not transform anyone into a good student, just dress up a bad one”. (Cruz 44) It is true that uniforms are not the solution to all educational problems, but they are a good place to start. Although, when schools begin to enforce a uniform policy it shows that the community is acknowledging there are problems to be solved and working together to try something new. Quoting two school safety experts, “Instituting a dress code alone will not solve the problem of violence in the schoo...
Dress codes have long been the subject of debate in our educational institutions for many years. Administrators have struggled to find effective ways to deal with discipline problems. The introduction of dress codes has been a common intervention in our educational system to help decrease the number of disciplinary issues that are dealt with on a daily basis. Topics such as gang activity, bullying, increasing violence and Freedom of Expression have been thrown into the discussion, causing controversy in our communities. The dress code policy is considered to be a "fix all" solution in our schools, but has failed to curb the big issues. Dress codes should not be instituted to fix a particular problem, but should be looked at to help overall school reform. A school uniform policy does not have a significant influence on producing a safe learning environment or helping students achieve their goals.
Transcendental, and therefore pantheist, views run fluidly throughout Emerson's texts, especially as he attempts to define his image of the perfect poet in his essay, The Poet. He continually uses religious terms to express his feelings, but warps these terms to fit his own unique spirituality. This technique somewhat helps to define his specific religious views which mirror the view of transcendentalism and pantheism. Emerson's ideal poet is a pantheist who can express the symbols of the world through words.
In conclusion, I feel poets mainly write poems to express feelings, thoughts, and messages to the world. It’s an easy approach for them to use this writing technique as a way to articulate different aspects which could be improved in this world. I think what attracts people to poetry is writing which relates to each person in their everyday life no matter how it could be portrayed by. For some people poetry could be a relaxing thing or it could be something which cheers someone up, but people look to poetry to get a deeper thinking in life rather than a simpler thinking. This is clearly evident through authors, William Wordsworth and William Blake, and their poems “The World is too Much with Us” and “The Tyger.” Both poems related to one another one way or another, and they depicted different messages and themes which do relate to real life situations.
Students are becoming more concerned with what they are wearing and they are being distracted from the learning process. Although many students are not happy with the strictness some of the school’s new uniform policies, the policies should stay in place in order to increase school safety, devote student’s attention to learning and reduce bullying and peer pressure.
The definition of beauty is varying among different people in the world. Even though almost everyone knows the term beauty, many people are struggling in defining it and persuading others to agree with their opinions. Beauty is defined by a combination of qualities existent in a person or thing that fulfills the aesthetic feels or brings about profound gratification. Many people define beauty as a term to describe a person’s physical appearance; they often think that beauty comes from magazines, video girls, or even models. Although the term beauty can define a person’s physical appearance, true beauty lies in the way one acts and thinks rather than the way one look.
Ralph Waldo Emerson(1803-1882), the leader of the Transcendentalism in New England, is the first American who wrote prose and poem on nature and the relationship between nature and man Emerson's philosophy of Transcendentalism concerning nature is that nature is only another side of God "the gigantic shadow of God cast our senses." Every law in nature has a counterpart in the intellect. There is a perfect parallel between the laws of nature and the laws of thought. Material elements simply represent an inferior plane: wherever you enumerate a physical law, I hear in it a moral rule. His poem The Rhodora is a typical instance to illustrate his above-mentioned ideas on nature. At the very beginning of the poem, the poet found the fresh rhodora in the woods, spreading its leafless blooms in a deep rock, to please the desert and the sluggish brook, while sea-winds pieced their solitudes in May. It is right because of the rhodora that the desert and the sluggish brook are no longer solitudes. Then the poem goes to develop by comparison between the plumes of the redbird and the rhodora . Although the bird is elegant and brilliant, the flower is much more beautiful than the bird. So the sages can not helping asking why this charm is wasted on the earth and sky. The poet answers beauty is its own cause for being just as eyes are made for seeing. There is no other reason but beauty itsel...