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 xxiv
All knowledge , ” he wrote , “ rests on the co - incidence of an object with a
subject , ” on their “ intimate coalition . ” Knowledge is a process : “ We can only
know by the act of becoming . ” In such knowing there are " unconscious thoughts
, ” out ...
All knowledge , ” he wrote , “ rests on the co - incidence of an object with a
subject , ” on their “ intimate coalition . ” Knowledge is a process : “ We can only
know by the act of becoming . ” In such knowing there are " unconscious thoughts
, ” out ...
Page 3
First is sensory beauty in all its immediacy of visual form , impressionistic tone ,
and integrated pattern ; then there is the moral beauty of heroic act or will ; and ,
finally , the intellectual realization of the object ' s “ identity ” with the organic
whole ...
First is sensory beauty in all its immediacy of visual form , impressionistic tone ,
and integrated pattern ; then there is the moral beauty of heroic act or will ; and ,
finally , the intellectual realization of the object ' s “ identity ” with the organic
whole ...
Page 17
The virtue of art lies in detachment , in sequestering one object from the
embarrassing variety . Until one thing comes out from the connection of things ,
there can be enjoyment , contemplation , but no thought . Our happiness and
unhappiness ...
The virtue of art lies in detachment , in sequestering one object from the
embarrassing variety . Until one thing comes out from the connection of things ,
there can be enjoyment , contemplation , but no thought . Our happiness and
unhappiness ...
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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
Bibliographic information
| Title | Emerson's Literary Criticism Regents critics series Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaiss |
| Author | Ralph Waldo Emerson |
| Editor | Eric W. Carlson |
| Publisher | University of Nebraska Press, 1979 |
| ISBN | 0803214030, 9780803214033 |
| Length | 251 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |