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." |
From inside the book
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Page 11
A man ' s power to connect his thought with its proper symbol , and so to utter it ,
depends on the simplicity of his character , that is , upon his love of truth and his
desire to communicate it without loss . The corruption of man is followed by the ...
A man ' s power to connect his thought with its proper symbol , and so to utter it ,
depends on the simplicity of his character , that is , upon his love of truth and his
desire to communicate it without loss . The corruption of man is followed by the ...
Page 40
Every thought is also a prison ; every heaven is also a prison . Therefore we love
the poet , the inventor , who in any form , whether in an ode or in an action or in
looks and behavior , has yielded us a new thought . He unlocks our chains and ...
Every thought is also a prison ; every heaven is also a prison . Therefore we love
the poet , the inventor , who in any form , whether in an ode or in an action or in
looks and behavior , has yielded us a new thought . He unlocks our chains and ...
Page 64
The constructive intellect produces thoughts , sentences , poems , plans , designs
... It is the advent of truth into the world , a form of thought now for the first time
bursting into the universe , a child of the old eternal soul , a piece of genuine and
...
The constructive intellect produces thoughts , sentences , poems , plans , designs
... It is the advent of truth into the world , a form of thought now for the first time
bursting into the universe , a child of the old eternal soul , a piece of genuine and
...
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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