Philosophy + English Essay

Must follow the guidelines outlined below and included in word document, read both carefully. 

Note: Do not plagiarize, all work is checked.

MLA format, use 1-inch margins, double-spaced, 12 point font (Times New Roman)

Essay length: 6-8 pages, college writing level

Citations: You may ONLY cite the readings (you must use page numbers for quotations from Emerson and the poem number for Dickinson), no online resources.

Topic: Dickinson and Emerson

These Dickinson poems can be categorized as romantic transcendentalist. What are the major themes here and how to do they agree or disagree with Emerson’s transcendental views?

Remember to Underline or bold your thesis statement.

I will include a few notes under each poem that may aid in your analysis. Don’t mention her use of “dashes”, our focus is on thematic elements.

Pick 4 or more of the following Dickinson poems (numbers are from Final Harvest) to compare to Emerson (you may draw from any of his essays including “Nature”, “Self-Reliance”, “Friendship”, “The Poet”, “The Transcendentalist” etc’.):

(46)

I taste a liquor never brewed -

From Tankards scooped in Pearl -

Not all the Vats upon the Rhine

Yield such an Alcohol!

Inebriate of Air - am I -

And Debauchee of Dew,

Reeling - thro endless summer days -

From inns of molten blue -

When the “Landlords” turn the drunken Bee

Out of the Foxglove's door -

When Butterflies - renounce their “drams” -

I shall but drink the more!

Till Seraphs swing their snowy Hats -

And Saints - to windows run -

To see the little Tippler

Leaning against the – Sun -

Notes: “Inebriate of air” echoes of Emerson’s “Nature”, “the air is a cordial of incredible virtue”

(95)

The Soul selects her own Society,

Then shuts the Door;

To her divine Majority

Present no more.

Unmoved, she notes the Chariot's pausing

At her low gate;

Unmoved, an emperor is kneeling

Upon her mat.

I've known her from an ample nation

Choose one

Then close the valves of her attention

Like Stone.

Notes: “at her low gate” echoes Emerson’s “Friendship” (“they pass my gate”)

(201)

Within my Garden, rides a Bird

Upon a single Wheel-

Whose spokes a dizzy Music make

As 'twere a travelling Mill-

He never stops, but slackens

Above the Ripest Rose-

Partakes without alighting

And praises as he goes,

Till every spice is tasted-

And then his Fairy Gig

Reels in remoter atmospheres-

And I rejoin my Dog,

And He and I, perplex us

If positive, 'twere we-

Or bore the Garden in the Brain

This Curiosity-

But He, the best Logician,

Refers my clumsy eye-

To just vibrating Blossoms!

An Exquisite Reply!

Notes: Stanza 1: refers to a humming bird. “Gig” means a contraption for motion. Can’t ask anyone so she asks her dog, background of subjectivity of knowledge. “just vibrating blossoms” – bird was on flowers, “just” can mean just barely/immediate past or still vibrating, lawfully pendulum motion.

(211)

To hear an Oriole sing

May be a common thing-

Or only a divine.

It is not of the Bird

Who sings the same, unheard,

As unto Crowd-

The Fashion of the Ear

Attireth that it hear

In Dun, or fair-

So whether it be Rune,

Or whether it be none

Is of within.

The "Tune is in the Tree-"

The Skeptic-showeth me-

"No Sir! In Thee!"

Notes: Like any perception, it may be ordinary or it may be divine. Is this cheering Emerson or is it pointing out how weird Emerson can be?

(411)

Perception of an object costs

Precise the Object’s loss —

Perception in itself a Gain

Replying to its Price —

The Object Absolute — is nought —

Perception sets it fair

And then upbraids a Perfectness

That situates so far —

Notes: No break, but two separate thoughts (starting with “The object absolute…”). The first part talks about subjects’ awareness, object meanings, and perception. Next, Dickinson talks about the thing in itself apart from any perception. Perception can make objects fail (subjectivity), without perception = perfectness.

(472)

I thought that nature was enough

Till Human nature came

But that the other did absorb

As Parallax a Flame—

Of Human nature just aware

There added the Divine

Brief struggle for capacity

The power to contain

Is always as the contents

But give a Giant room

And you will lodge a Giant

And not a smaller man

Notes: There’s kind of a paradox here, in Emerson increasing power of nature to explain everything – nature absorbs nature. Nature is a function of human nature. This is a good poem to bring in Emerson’s “Nature” and “Self-Reliance”.