User:Zachgallaway11

Wikipedia's The American Scholar article for ENGL2131.01

Zach Gallaway's sandbox for "The American Scholar".

Analysis of Article

The existing article is accurate but, it lacks depth in the introduction and information surrounding the speech. I think the article needs more information about history before and after the speech was given.

Reading List

• Liebman, Sheldon W. (2004). Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature.
• Cole, Phyllis. "Emerson Father and Son: A Precedent for 'The American Scholar'." The New England Quarterly 2005: 101. JSTOR Journals. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.
• "Emerson, Ralph Waldo." Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia (2015): 1p. 1. Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. 9 Nov. 2015
• Habich, Robert D. "Emerson's Compromised Optimism In The American Scholar: A Source In The Poetry." English Language Notes27.(1990): 40-43. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 9 Nov. 2015.
• Matuozzi, Robert N. "The American Scholar." Masterplots, Fourth Edition (2010): 1-2. Literary Reference Center. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.
• Yang, Vincent. "The American Scholar." Magill’S Survey Of American Literature, Revised Edition (2006): 1. Literary Reference Center. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.
• Rosenblum, Joseph. "Ralph Waldo Emerson." Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia (2014): Research Starters. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.

Revised paragraph from article

Original

"The American Scholar" was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson on August 31, 1837, to the Phi Beta Kappa Society at the The First Parish in Cambridge in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was invited to speak in recognition of his groundbreaking work Nature, published a year earlier, in which he established a new way for America's fledgling society to regard the world. Sixty years after declaring independence, American culture was still heavily influenced by Europe, and Emerson, for possibly the first time in the country's history, provided a visionary philosophical framework for escaping "from under its iron lids" and building a new, distinctly American cultural identity.

Revised

"The American Scholar" was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson on August 31, 1837, to the Phi Beta Kappa Society at the The First Parish in Cambridge in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ralph Waldo Emerson was not the first member of his family to speak of the scholar's role at Harvard College's Phi Beta Kappa Society. His father, William Emerson, had addressed the society in September 1789, just two months after graduating from Harvard. Ralph Waldo Emerson was invited to speak in recognition of his groundbreaking work Nature, published a year earlier, in which he established a new way for America's fledgling society to regard the world. Sixty years after declaring independence, American culture was still heavily influenced by Europe, and Emerson, for possibly the first time in the country's history, provided a visionary philosophical framework for escaping "from under its iron lids" and building a new, distinctly American cultural identity.

History

Ralph Waldo Emerson was the fourth child of Unitarian minister William Emerson and Ruth Haskins Emerson. His father William was a devout minister and writer. After William's death in 1811, it left the Emerson family very poor. Ralph Waldo's mother had to maintain a boarding house in order to support her six children. Despite his poverty, Emerson's education was not neglected.

After graduating from Harvard University, Ralph Waldo Emerson entered the Harvard Divinity School in 1825. He began delivering sermons in Massachusetts and in 1829 Emerson was ordained as minister of Boston's Second Church. Shortly after, Emerson married his first wife Ellen Louisa Tucker, who died in 1831 from tuberculosis. Her death triggered an emotional and psychological crisis, this traumatic event helped to shape Emerson's later writings. Emerson then took a trip to England and befriended Thomas Carlyle, a notable philosopher and writer of the time.

Ralph Waldo Emerson's first published book, Nature (1836), originally appeared anonymously, but was soon correctly attributed to him. Emerson is seen as one of the fore-fathers of Transcendentalism. One year after publishing his first book, Emerson took to the stage to give the speech " The American Scholar"(1837). Emerson's work was hailed as the American's " Intellectual Declaration of Independence" by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Emerson's second address commonly refferred as the "Address at Divinity college" delivered in 1838, was not as well recived as his previous work. Controversy ensued because the speech attacked formal religion and argued for self-reliance and intuitive spiritual experience.

Notes

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