Writing an Emerson Analysis EssayFor your introduction – which.docx

Writing an Emerson Analysis Essay
For your introduction – which you should worry about last–
establish the nature of what happens in your essay (which is an
analysis of both what happens in Emerson’s essay– and HOW it
happens)
Your introduction should introduce (a) your essay and (b) your
thesis
Your thesis should be related to the following:
Emerson felt quite emphatically he could experience life more
truly in nature than in civilization, and, in his essay, he writes
about the reverence and awe one can have for nature if one’s
mind is open to the influence of such things— so much so that
he connects the awe we might have for the brilliant, shining
stars in the nighttime sky to the awe we can have for natural
things in our world down below those stars. By doing so,
Emerson expresses his belief that the God he reveres so much in
the unreachable stars can be experienced in and through the
beauty and awe of nature experienced down here on earth.
You conclusion should use all of your analysis in your body
paragraphs to demonstrate the “what” and the “how” of
Emerson’s essay. Think of your conclusion as the place where
you conclude what Emerson has been up to (as, for example,
stated in the example thesis above). Think of your thesis
statement as a restatement of your conclusion.
What do you need to cover? These are the essential elements of
Emerson’s essay.
Emerson begins the essay by explaining how to achieve a
certain quality of solitude, one that he will achieve later in his
essay when he becomes a transparent eyeball.

He explains that if one wishes to achieve that quality of
solitude, one must leave behind a connection to people (society,
reading, writing, one’s home)
The stars fill us with awe
separate us from them
(with a “transparent” atmosphere – later connects to
“transparent eyeball”
“plantations of God”
The stars invoke a sense of awe, for we cannot access them–
thus, in their presence, we feel respect and reverence
We can feel a similar kind of awe for all of nature down here on
earth if we are open to the influence of nature
later connects to “nature wears the colors of our spirit”)
The “wise man” (the person whose mind is open to the influence
Never tires of nature – always feels wonder
Never tries to forcefully take nature’s secrets
Never treats it like a toy
Always feels a continual wonder for it – much like the wonder
most people have in childhood (but not the same exact thing –
we are now adults!)
The person who sees in this way sees poetically (sees nature in
terms of the wonder and beauty it invokes)
Offers examples of
Tree
Woodcutter who sees a tree as material / wood that can be used
and / or sold
Poet sees the tree with a sense of awe– for the beauty, for the
awe and reverence it invokes
The Landscape
He takes a walk through the farmland and realizes individuals

lay claim to fields and woods, but these people can never own
the landscape (the view / the experience of it)
Most people, Emerson argues, never “see” nature (this IMPLIES
that they do not see it more deeply– do not see it with the heart
of a poet)
Offers example that adults only see the sun superficially– while
the sun shines both in the inner (heart) and outer (eyes) of
children
The person who loves nature (open to influence / the poet / etc.)
-- has an adjusted experience of outer and inner senses
That person retains some of the wonder he/she experienced as a
child
That person experiences an awe for nature on earth and in the
heavens – and those experiences are a kind of nourishment
(spiritual)
cation
A person feeling sad can feel nature uplifting him / her
sometimes
Nature fits happiness and melancholy
Nature can feel like a cordial (a little medicine)
Emerson has been on a walk in nature and felt exhilarated by
the experience with no other special reasons for feeling that
way
He is glad to the brink of fear (on the edge between exhilaration
and terror)

He feels that one can feel as if they return to a kind of youthful
excitement when in nature
compares it to casting off the years like a snake casts off its
skin
He compares it to a ritual (decorum = dignified propriety of
behavior, speech, dress, etc.)
He calls the woods “plantations of God” – compare to “City of
God” in first paragraph)
Implies that God is both in the stars and in nature
In those moments of pure exhilaration while in nature:
He says that we return to reason and faith (these are
contradictory) – Transcendentalists believed in science AND
God
He feels, in those moments, like nothing bad can happen – as if
nature can repair any ills
He feels the breeze
He feels as if he is lifted by the exhilaration into an endless
space (FEELS – not actual)
He feels like all meanness vanishes
He becomes a transparent eyeball
connected to nature TO (2) a transparent eyeball
Transparent = having the property of transmitting rays of light
through its substance so that bodies situated beyond or behind
can be distinctly seen.
Eyeball = the entire ball-shaped part of the eye
Eye can be pun (same sound / two different words) on I (eye /
I)
Eye is how you see – how one experiences – I is who you are
and how you see – Implication = the eye and the I are how one
experiences nature
So the implication is that this is a transparent “I”
Thus– we can infer that the moment 0f the I and the eye is

deeply connected to nature AND
to God while in nature (for, in a sense, God is nature // nature is
God
He connects because of his awe for the stars (“City of God” and
his consequential connection to all of nature (plantations of
God) because he is open to the influence
In those moments other human beings feel far away (back to
first paragraph) / inconsequential
He finds something inherently essential in his deep connection
to nature (and thus God)
This deep connection suggests a mystical relationship between a
person and the vegetation of nature
Nature– even though familiar– always seems new (refers back
to second paragraph of essay)
In those moments it is a higher thought– a thought more intense
and heightened than ordinary thoughts
However– this connection to nature is primarily grounded in the
individual
One brings their emotions to nature (once can feel happier or
elevated by nature– but the ownership of the feelings is the
individual)
Essential quotes (You can break them up and / or block them –
see next page)
To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his
chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and
write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone,
let him look at the stars

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---------------------------
The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always
present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a
kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------
When we speak of nature in this manner, we have a distinct but
most poetical sense in the mind. We mean the integrity of
impression made by manifold natural objects. It is this which
distinguishes the stick of timber of the wood-cutter, from the
tree of the poet.
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---------------------------
To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons
do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing.
The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the
eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose
inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other;
who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of
manhood. His intercourse with heaven and earth becomes part
of his daily food.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------
Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a
clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of
special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------
There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, -- no disgrace, no
calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair.
Standing on the bare ground, -- my head bathed by the blithe
air, and uplifted into infinite space, -- all mean egotism
vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see
all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I
am part or particle of God
And it is in this state of “perfect exhilaration” that one
returns to reason and faith, these words being essential because,
for the transcendentalists, the spiritual and the scientific were
never in competition with one another. They generally believed
that the world could be understood through spiritual intuition,
but they also accepted scientific doctrine. For some, this might
be difficult to understand— especially since he is about to
speak about his very deep, mystical connection with nature in
exceptionally poetic terms— but that poetic outlook is exactly
what fuels his direct experience. It may be poetic, but it is also
reasoned through a connection to what is there, to what he sees
in terms of what it actually is. And with this focused attention
on his surroundings, he then writes about the intensity of his
to set up quote and a colon ( : )
There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, -- no
disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature
cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, -- my
head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space,
-- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent
eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal
Being

circulate through me; I am part or particle of God (7).
around it
At first glance, Emerson’s words seem to suggest an almost
hallucinatory experience, but when one considers the reverence,
the childhood wonder, and the most poetical sense of mind that
he has already introduced us to, one can see the absolute delight
and awe he has for such an intense experience, a moment of
experience in which he fully absorbs his surroundings, the
intensity of the connection itself being what instructs and
connects him. Indeed, he speaks in mystical terms, in a
connection through which he purely experiences the moment
itself as if he is there, but not there, and, in that state, connects
with God. In this perennially festive moment, he lets the self,
the “mean egotism” go, and it is as if he joins, in that moment,
the same “infinite space” where one would find the stars and the
“city of God,” as if he has bridged the “intercourse with heaven
and earth” (7). To be transparent is to be opaque, as if you are
there but cannot be seen. One might also think of a substance
like water which is sheer and allows light to shine through, as if
in those moments the light of everything in the universe, viz.,
the “Universal Being,” radiate through him thus allowing him to
absorb everything in his surroundings. The “eye,” the organ
through which we see, can also be seen as a pun on the personal
pronoun “I,” which connects this experience to the self, and, as
a result, the self, the “I,” is also made transparent and one then
becomes nothing, as if one is no longer there, and then becomes
a “part” of God or a minute particle of God, both indicating that
he has connected and become part of nature and part of God. At
the very least, one sees the absolute intensity by which he finds
this connection, one that is bound to reverence, to wonder, and
to a most distinctly poetical sense of mind.
Do not start a new paragraph after the blockquote – address the
quote in your same paragraph – pull out words and

phrases and analyze / discuss / explain / address them
*Only use quotation marks or italicize if what you are quoting
uses
quotation marks or has italicized test.
A Friendly Breakdown of How Emerson’s Nature Works
What do you need to cover? These are the essential elements of
Emerson’s essay.
· Emerson begins the essay by explaining how to achieve a
certain quality of solitude, one that he will achieve later in his
essay when he becomes a transparent eyeball.
· He explains that if one wishes to achieve that quality of
solitude, one must leave behind a connection to people (society,
reading, writing, one’s home)
· To find true solitude one only need look at the stars
· The stars fill us with awe the make one feel like the stars
separate us from them
· (with a “transparent” atmosphere – later connects to
“transparent eyeball”
· Call the stars a “City of God” later calls the woods / nature
“plantations of God”
· The stars invoke a sense of awe, for we cannot access them–
thus, in their presence, we feel respect and reverence
· We can feel a similar kind of awe for all of nature down here
on earth if we are open to the influence of nature
· Nature is never mean (it never “wears a mean appearance”
later connects to “nature wears the colors of our spirit”)
· The “wise man” (the person whose mind is open to the
influence of nature
· Never tires of nature – always feels wonder
· Never tries to forcefully take nature’s secrets
· Never treats it like a toy

· Always feels a continual wonder for it – much like the wonder
most people have in childhood (but not the same exact thing –
we are now adults!)
· The person who sees in this way sees poetically (sees nature in
terms of the wonder and beauty it invokes)
· Offers examples of
· Tree
· Woodcutter who sees a tree as material / wood that can be
used and / or sold
· Poet sees the tree with a sense of awe– for the beauty, for the
awe and reverence it invokes
· The Landscape
· He takes a walk through the farmland and realizes individuals
lay claim to fields and woods, but these people can never own
the landscape (the view / the experience of it). The poet sees the
land as nature—as worthy of reverence – the owners sees as
property
· Most people, Emerson argues, never “see” nature (this
IMPLIES that they do not see it more deeply– do not see it with
the heart of a poet). They of course can physically “see” it …
· Offers example that adults only see the sun superficially–
while the sun shines both in the inner (heart) and outer (eyes) of
children
· The person who loves nature (open to influence / the poet /
etc.) -- has an adjusted experience of outer and inner senses
· That person retains some of the wonder he/she experienced as
a child
· That person experiences an awe for nature on earth and in the
heavens – and those experiences are a kind of nourishment
(spiritual)
· It as if nature says you are mine personification
· A person feeling sad can feel nature uplifting him / her
sometimes
· Nature fits happiness and melancholy
· Nature can feel like a cordial (a little medicine)
· Emerson has been on a walk in nature and felt exhilarated by

the experience with no other special reasons for feeling that
way
· He is glad to the brink of fear (on the edge between
exhilaration and terror)
· He feels that one can feel as if they return to a kind of
youthful excitement when in nature
· compares it to casting off the years like a snake casts off its
skin
· He compares it to a ritual (decorum = dignified propriety of
behavior, speech, dress, etc.)
· He calls the woods “plantations of God” – compare to “City of
God” in first paragraph)
· Implies that God is both in the stars and in nature
· In those moments of pure exhilaration while in nature:
· He says that we return to reason and faith (these are
contradictory) – Transcendentalists believed in science AND
God
· He feels, in those moments, like nothing bad can happen – as
if nature can repair any ills
· He feels the breeze
· He feels as if he is lifted by the exhilaration into an endless
space (FEELS – not actual)
· He feels like all meanness vanishes
· He becomes a transparent eyeball
· Metaphor comparing (1) the experience of being deeply
connected to nature TO (2) a transparent eyeball
· Transparent = having the property of transmitting rays of light
through its substance so that bodies situated beyond or behind
can be distinctly seen.
· Eyeball = the entire ball-shaped part of the eye
· Eye can be pun (same sound / two different words) on I (eye
/ I)
· Eye is how you see – how one experiences – I is who you are
and how you see – Implication = the eye and the I are how one
experiences nature
· So the implication is that this is a transparent “I”

· Thus– we can infer that the moment 0f the I and the eye is
deeply connected to nature AND
· He is part of God / particle of God THUS he deeply connects
to God while in nature (for, in a sense, God is nature // nature is
God
· He connects because of his awe for the stars (“City of God”
and his consequential connection to all of nature (plantations of
God) because he is open to the influence
· In those moments other human beings feel far away (back to
first paragraph) / inconsequential
· He finds something inherently essential in his deep connection
to nature (and thus God)
· This deep connection suggests a mystical relationship between
a person and the vegetation of nature
· Personification as if nature sees him / he sees nature
· Nature– even though familiar– always seems new (refers back
to second paragraph of essay)
· In those moments it is a higher thought– a thought more
intense and heightened than ordinary thoughts
· However– this connection to nature is primarily grounded in
the individual
· One brings their emotions to nature (once can feel happier or
elevated by nature– but the ownership of the feelings is the
individual)
Essential Quotes (You can break them up and / or block them)
chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and
write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone,
let him look at the stars
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a

kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
most poetical sense in the mind. We mean the integrity of
impression made by manifold natural objects. It is this which
distinguishes the stick of timber of the wood-cutter, from the
tree of the poet.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing.
The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the
eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose
inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other;
who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of
manhood. His intercourse with heaven and earth becomes part
of his daily food.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a
clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of
special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair.
Standing on the bare ground, -- my head bathed by the blithe
air, and uplifted into infinite space, -- all mean egotism
vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see
all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I
am part or particle of God

PIE – A Way to “think” about Paragraph Structure
One should be wary of neat and convenient formulas that
explain how to write. While they can certainly be helpful, if
always followed to the letter— instead of using them as an
organization guide— one can end up with very formulaic
writing devoid of variety. In its simplest sense, PIE breaks
down to the following.
P = Point (basically the main point of the paragraph; in other
words, what everything in your paragraph relates to)
I = Illustration or Information (these are the examples, quotes,
summaries, bits of essential information that you provide to
further illustrate your points)
E = Explanation (I prefer to think of this as the point where you
address your illustration / information / Quote because not all
those things need to be further “explained”—though it is often
necessary. To address an illustration is to justify its presence,
to do something with it, to give it relevance, to relate it to the
controlling idea of your essay the thesis).
One needs, as soon as possible to work on addressing the most
significant pitfall that can arise from following this too closely:
falling into the trap of thinking that every paragraph you write
should be a process of making a Point, then offering an
illustration followed by an explanation. The main idea is the
following: every paragraph needs at least one point, and every
point benefits from information (illustration, quotes, etc.), and
all information needs to be addressed. It is quite possible to
begin a paragraph with information that leads to an explanation
and then leads to a point. The point is: every paragraph needs

“something” that the “illustrations” and “explanations” relate
to. Also … do not forget that every point must support and
relate to – which must be the controlling idea of your essay
(your thesis).
Finally, one can write sentences that combine points with
explanations and illustrations …
Read this example
Next, Emerson shifts from the reverence and awe one might feel
for the stars to reverence for the many facets of nature down
here on earth, writing that that the stars are “inaccessible,” that
we can never touch them and that, in the end, this is an essential
part of the reason why they “awaken a certain reverence” (10)
He then shifts to explaining how the wise person— i.e., the
person whose mind is open to the influence of nature—
recognizes that nature does not act meanly, that nature is not a
trivial toy to be played with, that nature never ceases to amaze
and intrigue the person who experiences it, and, perhaps most
importantly, the truly wise person realizes the best moments
experiencing nature as an adult return one to the wonder which
childhood was often filled with, to a time before the experiences
of being an adult deadened and dulled the innocence and
curiosity of childhood experiences in nature. Emerson then
connects this reawakened mind to a “most poetical sense” of
how we see things. He offers the example of the woodcutter—
who sees a tree only for its potential materials— and the poet,
who sees the tree for what it is: as a whole tree with all the
beauty one might associate with a tree. He further explains this
poetical perception by describing a walk through a variety of
farms and woods, in which he sees all these parcels of
individually owned land as one landscape and not a landscape
divided by ownership.

This paragraph is basically information (illustration)—with very
little explanation (addressing) of that information. By
addressing the information, one can expand the paragraph into
two paragraphs and offer the essential analysis necessary for an
“analysis essay.”
Now Read this example
Next, Emerson shifts from the reverence and awe one might feel
for the stars to reverence for the many facets of nature down
here on earth, writing that that the stars are “inaccessible,” that
we can never touch them and that, in the end, this is an essential
part of the reason why they “awaken a certain reverence” (10)—
“awaken” implying our senses and spirit have been asleep or
dulled and that through this experience those inactive senses are
stirred up, excited, and aroused. And this is precisely where
Emerson associates that same awakening, that same awe, that
same reverence for the majesty of the nighttime sky with all and
any “natural objects” (10), the phrase “kindred impression” (10)
connecting the stars to all “natural objects” (all of which we can
touch, unlike the stars, if we choose). “Kindred” denotes there
is a definite similarity between the stars and the natural objects
of the earth, but even though they are not the same, they do, in a
sense, come from the same natural origin (later in the essay, the
“Universal Being”). “Impression” indicates the effect
something has on the mind, the conscience, and one’s feelings.
So, when combined in this context, these two words indicate,
once again, that Emerson is drawing a connection between the
intensity and awe we hold for the stars and the awe and
reverence that we might have for any natural object, but, for
this to happen, the mind must be “open to their influence” (10).
“Influence” is the key word here, for it indicates that
experiencing these natural objects and surroundings can affect
one’s moods and feelings, that one can experience the same awe
for the stars in the entirety of nature if one is open to seeing
that influence, that, ultimately, nature is as grand and awe-

inspiring as those stars (and, by connection, one can also
experience God in and through nature). Comment by Nathan
Wirth: This sentence serves as both a point and an illustration.
Comment by Nathan Wirth: These sentences address,
explain and analyze what Emerson says about the connection
between the stars in the heavens and the awe and reverence we
can have for all the natural “objects” down here on the earth if
our minds are open to their influence. It does so, in part, by
defining and analyzing key words and phrases that are essential.
Keep in mind that these sentences employ both “illustration”
and “explanation.” Comment by Nathan Wirth: This sentence
also makes a point – and it offers a mini-conclusion for the
paragraph which began with a sentence about how the stars
invoke reverence and now ends with a sentence that shows how
that awe can be experienced in all natural objects if one’s mind
is open to the influence.
Emerson then shifts to explaining how the wise person— i.e.,
the person whose mind is open to the influence of nature—
recognizes that nature does not act meanly, that nature is not a
trivial toy to be played with, that nature never ceases to amaze
and intrigue the person who experiences it, and, perhaps most
importantly, the truly wise person realizes the best moments
experiencing nature as an adult return one to the wonder which
childhood was often filled with, to a time before the experiences
of being an adult deadened and dulled the innocence and
curiosity of childhood experiences in nature. In other words,
one of the deepest consequences of opening one’s mind to the
influence of nature is that it awakens, in part, some of that lost
wonder of our childhood.Emerson then connects this
reawakened mind to a “most poetical sense” of how we see
things. To see things poetically is to see them as they are and
not in an analytical or purely functional way; the poet sees
nature in its entirety and not by its material divisions.He offers
the example of the woodcutter— who sees a tree only for its
potential materials— and the poet, who sees the tree for what it
is: as a whole tree with all the beauty one might associate with

a tree— as well as a “natural object” that shares a “kindred
impression” with the stars that invokes a sense of awe,
reverence and wonder. He further explains this poetical
perception by describing a walk through a variety of farms and
woods, in which he sees all these parcels of individually owned
land as one landscape and not a landscape divided by
ownership. The poetically-awakened mind realizes one can
possess a deed to some land, but one can never own the
landscape, the view, the experience (and the awe and the
wonder it can invoke if one’s mind is open to the influence).
Comment by Nathan Wirth: This sentence is
simultaneously a point, information, and a little bit of
explanation. You should notice that instead of directly quoting
Emerson, it summarizes what Emerson says. You always have
the option to do this—but you must be careful that your
summary is accurate. Comment by Nathan Wirth:
Addressing, analyzing and explaining Comment by Nathan
Wirth: information Comment by Nathan Wirth: Addressing,
analyzing and explaining Comment by Nathan Wirth:
Information Comment by Nathan Wirth: Addressing,
analyzing and explaining Comment by Nathan Wirth:
Information Comment by Nathan Wirth: Addressing,
analyzing and explaining
2 | Page
9 | P a g e
Essay 1: Inductive Analysis Essay -- Emerson (50 pts.)
Length: 4-5 pgs. Due Date: Check Canvas
Task: Analyze the text of the excerpt from Emerson’s Nature
and discuss how the writer explains (a) his experience

with nature while in solitude and (b) the spiritual connection
that he has with God through nature.
• To successfully accomplish this task, you will need to analyze
Emerson’s actual language. This is essential. I am
not asking you what your thoughts are about Emerson’s views.
I am asking you to analyze what he wrote.
• You need to make sure that you analyze the following key
elements in Emerson’s essay:
a) What Emerson feels is required to achieve the kind
of solitude he is discussing. How one can achieve it.
b) How our awe for the stars help us to understand
what true solitude means.
c) How all “natural objects” can fill us with the same
sense of awe if we are open to their influence.
d) How seeing this way is the way the poet sees.
e) How seeing with this sense of wonder is the way
many people experience nature when they are children.
f) How the “transparent eyeball” passage represents the
awe, the willingness to be open to the influence of
all “natural objects,” the way the poet sees, the
child-like wonder that we can have for nature, and his
thorough about this (do not skip it).
Please note I am not asking you to discuss your views about his
thoughts. Your task is to analyze the text (so you will
need to summarize, paraphrase and directly quote from Emerson
and use your analysis of the text to shape your
understanding of how he experiences solitude and nature). And
your essay is not only a summary … it is an analysis.
Do not write from the perspective of what you think Emerson is
trying to say; instead, write from the perspective of
what he actually writes and how his observations are
interconnected-- and what they, ultimately, lead to.

so you should not retell everything that happens in
them. Instead, focus on those passages that you choose to
analyze. You should summarize, paraphrase and quote
those passages that will help you to demonstrate how Emerson
describes his experiences with nature in solitude. Do
not use “I” or “You.”
means you do not begin your essay with the traditional
introduction that includes a thesis statement. Instead, you
should, after stating the title and the author’s full name,
jump right in and start analyzing what Emerson does and how
he does it. Your goal is to connect the various
elements of his essay and show how he ultimately connects with
God through his deep connection with nature.
Thus, it makes the most sense to discuss his essay by analyzing
these elements in the order he writes them in—your
job also including the need to make connections between these
elements. Your conclusion must, ultimately and
conclusively, state how Emerson’s essay explores his
connection with God through solitude and nature. And, very
importantly, state your thesis in your conclusion. Think of it
this way: this essay form requires you to argue towards
your thesis (instead of stating it at the beginning of your essay).
(1) When writing about the essay, use the present tense
(Example: Emerson explains a certain quality of solitude).
(2) In your introductory paragraph, refer to the title of the full
essay (Nature) and the author’s full name (Ralph
Waldo Emerson).
(3) For the rest of the essay, use the author’s last name
(Emerson). Do not repeat his full name again.
(4) Once you have mentioned the title, do not mention it again.
Do not write “in the essay.” We will know that you

are discussing the essay.
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Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Nature. English 1A Course Reader.
Edited by Nathan Wirth, Nathan’s Mind Inc., 2019.
aft to Canvas. Check the
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10 | P a g e
Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1836
chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I

read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would
be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come
from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and
what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was
made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly
bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime.1 Seen
in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should
appear one night in a thousand years, how would men
believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the
remembrance of the city of God which had been shown!
But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the
universe with their admonishing2 smile.
present, they are inaccessible; but all natural
objects make a kindred impression, when the mind is open to
their influence. Nature never wears a mean appearance.
Neither does the wisest man extort3 her secret, and lose his
curiosity by finding out all her perfection. Nature never
became a toy to a wise spirit. The flowers, the animals, the
mountains, reflected the wisdom of his best hour, as much
as they had delighted the simplicity of his childhood.
most poetical sense in the mind. We mean
the integrity of impression made by manifold natural objects. It
is this which distinguishes the stick of timber of the
wood-cutter, from the tree of the poet. The charming landscape,
which I saw this morning, is indubitably4 made up of
some twenty or thirty farms. Miller owns this field, Locke that,
and Manning the woodland beyond. But none of them
owns the landscape. There is a property in the horizon which no
man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts,
that is, the poet. This is the best part of these men's farms, yet
to this their warranty-deeds give no title.
do not see the sun. At least they have a very

superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the eye of the man,
but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The
lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still
truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the
spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse
with heaven and earth becomes part of his daily food.
In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man,
in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, -- he is my
creature, and maugre5 all his impertinent6 griefs, he shall be
glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but
every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every
hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a
different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest
midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a
comic or a mourning piece. In good health, the air is a cordial7
of incredible virtue. Crossing a bare common, in snow
puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my
thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I
have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of
fear. In the woods too, a man casts off his years, as the
snake his slough, and at what period soever of life, is always a
child. In the woods, is perpetual youth. Within these
plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign, a perennial8
festival is dressed, and the guest sees not how he
should tire of them in a thousand years. In the woods, we return
to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can
befall me in life, -- no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my
eyes,) which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare
ground, -- my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into
infinite space, -- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a
transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the
Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or
particle of God. The name of the nearest friend sounds then
foreign and accidental: to be brothers, to be
acquaintances, -- master or servant, is then a trifle and a
disturbance. I am the lover of uncontained and immortal

beauty. In the wilderness, I find something more dear and
connate9 than in streets or villages. In the tranquil
landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man
beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.
The greatest delight which the fields and woods minister, is the
suggestion of an occult relation between man
and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They
nod to me, and I to them. The waving of the boughs in
the storm, is new to me and old. It takes me by surprise, and yet
is not unknown. Its effect is like that of a higher
thought or a better emotion coming over me, when I deemed I
was thinking justly or doing right.
Yet it is certain that the power to produce this delight, does not
reside in nature, but in man, or in a harmony
of both. It is necessary to use these pleasures with great
temperance. For, nature is not always tricked in holiday
attire, but the same scene which yesterday breathed perfume and
glittered as for the frolic of the nymphs, is
overspread with melancholy today. Nature always wears the
colors of the spirit. To a man laboring under calamity, the
heat of his own fire hath sadness in it. Then, there is a kind of
contempt of the landscape felt by him who has just lost
by death a dear friend. The sky is less grand as it shuts down
over less worth in the population.
1 sublime = of such grandeur, or beauty as to inspire great
admiration or awe (so much awe that it comes with fear /
respect & thus reverence)
2 admonish = to urge to a duty; remind
3 extort = obtain (something) by force, threats, or other unfair
means
4 indubitably = too evident to be doubted
5 maugre = in spite of
6 impertinent = not pertinent to a particular matter; irrelevant.
7 cordial = a comforting or pleasant-tasting medicine

8 perennial = lasting or existing for a long or apparently infinite
time; enduring or continually recurring.
9 connate = (especially of ideas or principles) existing in a
person or thing from birth; innate.
11 | P a g e
Sample of Essay One – Emerson
William Fitzgerald
English 1A
Mr. Nathan
The Transparent I
Ralph Waldo Emerson begins his essay Nature by offering his
readers the conditions necessary to
find a certain quality of solitude, one that he later experiences
when he finds a very deep and personal
connection with nature and, ultimately, God: “To go into
solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his
chamber as from society” (10). One should note that Emerson
specifically indicates the necessity to leave
both his connections with home and the society that his home is
located in; in fact, he indicates the need
to sever his ties from others even further by realizing that being
physically alone, being at home without
anyone else around, is not necessarily enough, for even when he
reads and writes in solitude he is still
connected with those whose thoughts he might read and for
those whom he might write. To best find the

truest sense of the solitary, he explains one should look to the
brilliance of the heavens and its many
stars, for this is how one can feel truly disconnected from the
rest of the world. The stars, Emerson
writes, “will separate” man “between him and what he touches”
(10). In other words, those who look to
the brilliance of the stars will see something filled with such
immensity they will feel a sense of awe that
separates them from all that is material, all that is touchable,
and, as a result, leave them to feel alone
and solitary in the face of such grandeur. But the stars are not
just beautiful. They also fill one with the
sense of the sublime, a word which not only describes the sheer
beauty and grandeur of the lights that fill
the night but also indicates the power of the stars, a power and
intensity that elicits veneration and
respect and awe and, thus, a touch of uneasiness. That fear, that
respect, that reverence, is essential to
understanding what Emerson wishes to communicate because
the heavens in all their vastness and
mystery are, in his words, “the city of God” (10). So,
ultimately, Emerson equates the intensity of this
quality of solitude he seeks with the intensity of connecting
with God, but, at this point, God is high in the
heavens and out of his reach.
Next, he shifts from the reverence and awe one might feel for
the stars to reverence for the
many facets of nature down here on earth, writing that that the
stars are “inaccessible,” that we can
never touch them and that, in the end, this is an essential part of
the reason why they “awaken a certain
reverence” (10)— “awaken” implying our senses and spirit have
been asleep or dulled and that through
this experience those inactive senses are stirred up, excited, and
aroused. And this is precisely where

Emerson associates that same awakening, that same awe, that
same reverence for the majesty of the
nighttime sky with all and any “natural objects” (10), the phrase
“kindred impression” (10) connecting the
stars to all “natural objects” (all of which we can touch, unlike
the stars, if we choose). “Kindred”
denotes there is a definite similarity between the stars and the
natural objects of the earth, but even
though they are not the same, they do, in a sense, come from the
same natural origin (later in the essay,
the “Universal Being”). “Impression” indicates the effect
something has on the mind, the conscience, and
one’s feelings. So, when combined in this context, these two
words indicate, once again, that Emerson is
drawing a connection between the intensity and awe we hold for
the stars and the awe and reverence
that we might have for any natural object, but, for this to
happen, the mind must be “open to their
influence” (10). “Influence” is the key word here, for it
indicates that experiencing these natural objects
and surroundings can affect one’s moods and feelings, that one
can experience the same awe for the stars
in the entirety of nature if one is open to seeing that influence,
that, ultimately, nature is as grand and
awe-inspiring as those stars (and, by connection, one can also
experience God in and through nature).
Emerson then shifts to explaining how the wise person— i.e.,
the person whose mind is open to
the influence of nature— recognizes that nature does not act
meanly, that nature is not a trivial toy to be
played with, that nature never ceases to amaze and intrigue the
person who experiences it, and, perhaps
most importantly, the truly wise person realizes the best
moments experiencing nature as an adult return
one to the wonder which childhood was often filled with, to a

time before the experiences of being an
adult deadened and dulled the innocence and curiosity of
childhood experiences in nature. In other
words, one of the deepest consequences of opening one’s mind
to the influence of nature is that it
awakens, in part, some of that lost wonder of our childhood.
Emerson then connects this reawakened
mind to a “most poetical sense” of how we see things. To see
things poetically is to see them as they are
and not in an analytical or purely functional way; the poet sees
nature in its entirety and not by its
material divisions. He offers the example of the woodcutter—
who sees a tree only for its potential
12 | P a g e
materials— and the poet, who sees the tree for what it is: as a
whole tree with all the beauty one might
associate with a tree— as well as a “natural object” that shares
a “kindred impression” with the stars that
invokes a sense of awe, reverence and wonder. He further
explains this poetical perception by describing
a walk through a variety of farms and woods, in which he sees
all these parcels of individually owned land
as one landscape and not a landscape divided by ownership.
The poetically-awakened mind realizes one
can possess a deed to some land, but one can never own the
landscape, the view, the experience (and the
awe and the wonder it can invoke if one’s mind is open to the
influence) .
And it is this poetical sense of mind that Emerson sees through
when he later goes for a walk in

the woods at twilight. The poetically-minded individual is the
one whose mind, heart, spirit and eyes,
“whose inward and outward senses,” are “still truly adjusted to
each other; who has retained the spirit of
infancy even into the era of manhood” (10). Indeed, the “lover
of nature,” as Emerson refers to it, sees
nature not only with the eyes but with a curiosity and
exhilaration that has not been deadened, one that
can continually be reawakened. As he takes his walk, he feels a
perfect exhilaration and his senses are
filled with delight, recognizing that every season brings its own
delights and reactions and that, very
importantly, one can feel a sense of excitement even when one
feels sad. For Emerson, experiencing
nature is like a ritual, one that offers him an opportunity to
communicate with both the heavens and the
earth, for God can be found— if one’s mind is open to such
influence, to such awe and reverence— in
both those celestial stars he discusses at the beginning of the
essay and the natural world that he is now
taking a walk in. He recognizes that a man (woman) can “cast
off his years” and “what period soever of
life” be always a child (10). So, before he describes the very
intense connection with the natural world
that he is about to have, Emerson once again connects the
feeling of childhood wonder and the awe of
nature that can be found if one’s mind is open to their influence.
In fact, this connection is so intense he
likens it to a “perennial festival,” which implies that a walk of
this kind is very similar to a ritual one might
experience in a church, but, in this case, no building is
necessary, for nature, itself, is the place of worship,
the place of ritual. He also takes the reader back to the
beginning of the essay by saying that a person
would never tire of this ritual in even a thousand years, which
brings us back to how even more intense

the stars in the night sky would be if they only appeared every
thousand years. But, in this case, he states
that one would never tire of what is clearly there, what can be
clearly touched.
And it is in this state of “perfect exhilaration” that one returns
to reason and faith, these words
being essential because, for Emerson and his fellow
transcendentalists, the spiritual and the scientific
were never in competition with one another. They generally
believed that the world could be understood
through spiritual intuition, but they also accepted scientific
doctrine. For some, this might be difficult to
understand— especially since he is about to speak about his
very deep, mystical connection with nature in
exceptionally poetic terms— but that poetic outlook is exactly
what fuels his direct experience. It may be
poetic, but it is also reasoned through a connection to what is
there, to what he sees in terms of what
these natural objects actually are. And with this focused
attention on his surroundings, he then writes
about the intensity of his connection to both the natural
landscape and God:
calamity, (leaving
me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare
ground, -- my
head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, --
all mean
egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am
nothing; I see all; the
currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part
or particle of God
(10).

At first glance, Emerson’s words seem to suggest an almost
hallucinatory experience, but when one
considers the reverence, the childhood wonder, and the most
poetical sense of mind that he has already
introduced us to, one can see the absolute delight and awe he
has for such an intense experience, a
moment of experience in which he fully absorbs his
surroundings, the intensity of the connection itself
being what instructs and connects him. Indeed, he speaks in
mystical terms, in a connection through
which he purely experiences the moment itself as if he is there,
but not there, and, in that state, connects
with God. In this perennially festive moment, he lets the self,
the “mean egotism” go, and it is as if he
joins, in that moment, the same “infinite space” where one
would find the stars and the “city of God,” as
if he has bridged the “intercourse with heaven and earth” (10).
To be transparent is to be opaque, as if
you are there but cannot be seen. One might also think of a
substance like water which is sheer and
allows light to shine through, as if in those moments the light of
everything in the universe, viz., the
“Universal Being,” radiate through him thus allowing him to
absorb everything in his surroundings. The
“eye,” the organ through which we see, can also be seen as a
pun on the personal pronoun “I,” which
13 | P a g e
connects this experience to the self, and, as a result, the self,
the “I,” is also made transparent and one

then becomes nothing, as if one is no longer there, and then
becomes a “part” of God or a minute particle
of God, both indicating that he has connected and become part
of nature and part of God. At the very
least, one sees the absolute intensity by which he finds this
connection, one that is bound to reverence, to
wonder, and to a most distinctly poetical sense of mind.
Emerson clarifies one last time the wonder he has for nature by
explaining that every time he
sees the “waving of the boughs in the storm,” it “is new to” him
“and old,” for it takes him “by surprise,
and yet is not unknown” (10). At first this might seem
paradoxical, for how can something one sees often
be both known and surprising? The answer lies in the wonder
of the poetical mind open to the influence
of nature. Regardless of the amount of times, he has seen such
things and experienced such moments, he
always feels wonder for them (as if each experience is “new”).
Finally, he ends by pointing out that nature
itself does not provide the emotional connection. It is the
individual who connects in this way—and he
calls this connection a “higher thought” or “better emotion,”
both suggesting that one must, again, be
open to such influences. For, after all, one could go for a walk
in the woods and feel nothing but
boredom, for it is the mood of the individual that sets the
experience. Earlier, he said that nature “never
wears a mean appearance” (10) and then ends with the
observation that nature “always wears the color
of the spirit” (10), a claim that clearly states that nature itself
does not control our mood—though it can
certainly affect our mood.
Ultimately, Emerson has written about experiencing an intense,
mystical-like connection with the

natural world, one that is, in fact, so intense that he has, at
times, connected to the “Universal Being.” In
order to explain the depth of this experience, he writes about
the reverence and awe one can have for
nature if one’s mind is open to the influence of such things— so
much so that he connects the awe one
might have for the brilliant, shining stars in the nighttime sky to
the awe one can have for all natural
things in this world down below those stars. To open one’s
mind to nature in this way is to see nature
poetically, to see it with a wonder that links one back to a
similar wonder and curiosity one had for nature
as a child. He represents the intensity of this awe and wonder
by using a metaphor of “becoming a
transparent eyeball” (10), a comparison which offers the
perspective that when he experiences this
intense connection, it is so intense he becomes one with both
nature and God. Early in the essay, he
refers to the unreachable stars as the “City of God” (10), and
later in the essay he refers to nature as
the“plantations of God” (10). By doing so, Emerson expresses
his belief that the unreachable God he
reveres so much in those unreachable stars can be experienced
in and through the beauty and awe of
nature experienced down here on earth. But, again, one must be
open to such possibilities, such
influences.
I underlined the entire conclusion because all of it can be seen
as a thesis for what Emerson ultimately
“does” in his essay—as well as “how” he “does” it.
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