Emerson's Literary CriticismRalph Waldo Emerson has always fascinated students of criticism and of American literature and thought. Emerson& ’ s Literary Criticism supplies the continuing need for an anthology. This collection brings together Emerson& ’ s literary criticism from a wide variety of sources. Eric W. Carlson has culled both the major statements of Emerson's critical principles and many secondary observations that illuminate them. Here are more than sixty selections on thirty-five critical topics. Headnotes provide valuable background. Carlson relates Emerson& ’ s critical principles to his philosophy, social thought, and literary milieu, and also to biographical details. Intended for the student as well as the researcher, this book amply illustrates Alfred Kazin's contention that Ralph Waldo Emerson was "one of the shrewdest critics who ever lived." |
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Page xxxii
The Christian : when the soul became pronounced , and craved a heaven out of
Nature and above it , - looking on Nature now as evil , — the world was a mere
stage and school , a snare , and the powers that ruled here were devils , hostile
to ...
The Christian : when the soul became pronounced , and craved a heaven out of
Nature and above it , - looking on Nature now as evil , — the world was a mere
stage and school , a snare , and the powers that ruled here were devils , hostile
to ...
Page 8
Thus is Art a nature passed through the alembic of man . Thus in art does Nature
work through the will of a man filled with the beauty of her first works . The world
thus exists to the soul to satisfy the desire of beauty . This element I call an ...
Thus is Art a nature passed through the alembic of man . Thus in art does Nature
work through the will of a man filled with the beauty of her first works . The world
thus exists to the soul to satisfy the desire of beauty . This element I call an ...
Page 9
Language is a third use which Nature subserves to man . Nature is the vehicle of
thought , and in a simple , double , and three - fold degree . 1 . Words are signs of
natural facts . 2 . Particular natural facts are symbols of particular spiritual facts .
Language is a third use which Nature subserves to man . Nature is the vehicle of
thought , and in a simple , double , and three - fold degree . 1 . Words are signs of
natural facts . 2 . Particular natural facts are symbols of particular spiritual facts .
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Emerson's literary criticism
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictEditor Carlson gathered this selection of Emerson's literary criticism in 1979. The great poet here ruminates on "Art as Experience," "The Creative Process," "Writers and Books," and more. Read full review
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Common terms and phrases
American appear beauty become better called character Chaucer Coleridge common criticism culture delight draw Edited effect Emerson England English essay experience expression fact feeling flow genius give Goethe hand heart human ideal ideas imagination influence insight inspiration intellect interest journal language learned leaves lecture less light lines literary literature living look manners material meaning Milton mind moral nature never novel object organic original painting pass passage perception person philosopher picture poems poet poetic poetry praise present published reader reason relation represents rhetoric seems sense Shakspeare soul speak speech spirit stand style symbol theory things thought tion translation true truth universal verse whole wonderful Wordsworth write written