Transcript Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson
from
“Self-Reliance”
This power point will be printed for you in handout format
to allow for note-taking. It is your responsibility to add any
comments necessary for clarification in class.
Task 1
You are charged with the task of defining and determining
point-of-view, tone, style, and examples/proof of each.
There are 4 components of style mentioned, a few defined.
Define those that are not and find examples of all.
“Self-Reliance”
• Essay- A short literary composition on a
single subject, usually presenting the
personal view of the author.
• Purpose- Emerson calls on individuals to
value their own thoughts, opinions,
and experiences above those
presented to them by other individuals, society, and religion. TO PERSUADE
Literary Elements:
1. Point-of-view
2. Tone
3. Style
You are charged with the task of defining
point-of-view, tone, style,-and with
providing examples/proof of each. There
are 4 components of style mentioned, a
few defined. Define those that are not and
find examples of all.
 Rhetorical Question
 Rational Argument
 Allusion
 Epigraph
Literary Elements
• Point-of-view
• Tone
Style
Literary Elements cont’d
• Rational Argument
– use of logic and reasoning to support his
position
- organizes his ideas so that they
lead readers step by step to the
conclusion he wishes them to
reach.
• Rhetorical question
Style
Literary Elements
Cont’d
• Allusion
• Epigraphs - quotations at the
beginning of a book, chapter, or
section of a book, usually
related to its theme
#1“Ne te quasiveris extra”
#2
#3
– Purpose - stressing the necessity of
relying on oneself for knowledge
and guidance
Additional Task:
Find evidence of each transcendentalist belief in Emerson’s “SelfReliance” excerpt
• Individuality is paramount
• Non-conformity is essential
• Spirituality is necessary - God is
present in every aspect of nature,
including every human being.
• Free thought
• Confidence in crucial
• Nature is all important
Key
• Individuality p.7 “I shun father and mother and
wife and brother when my genius call me.”/p.9 “What I must do
is all that concerns me, not what the people think.”
• Non-conformity p.7 “Whoso would be a man
must be a nonconformist.”
• Spirituality p.1 “…and our first thought is rendered
back to us by the trumpets of the Last Judgment.”/p.4” So God has
armed youth and puberty and manhood…”
• Free thought p. 1”To believe your own thought, to
believe what is true for you in your private heart is true for all
men...”
• Confidence p. 3 ‘Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to
that iron string.”
Key
1. Point-of-view The vantage point from which a story is
st person
told.-- 1
2. Tone-- author’s attitude toward piece authoritative
3. Style – diction (word choice), sentence structure, organization
 Rhetorical Question (used as a
technique to involve reader in deep
thought, not to answer) p.7 “Are they my poor?”
 Rational Argument p.7 man as a nonconformist argument
ex. 1 Abolitionist, charities

Allusion – brief reference to a person,
event, or place, real or fictitious, or to
a work of art.p.1 Moses, Plato, Milton/ p. 3 Paradise Lost/ p.5
Lethe / p.7 Abolition /p.7 “…when my genius calls me”/

Epigraph- 1.“Ne te quasiveris extra” Latin, do not seek outside
yourself 2. Beaumont and Fletcher – Man is everything 3. Emerson- abandon
man to nature and he’ll be great