In both Ralph Emerson’s and Walt Whitman’s works, there is a recurring theme of the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency. Both of these writers believe in following your own instincts and ideas. In Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” essay, he argues that people need to avoid conformity, and the only way to be a “man” is to follow your conscience. In Whitman’s work “Song of Myself” he celebrates the self, not just for himself but all mankind.
Transcendentalism is the belief that man should have an individual relationship with the universe and the self. This idea of nature can take a man by “surprise” and he knows it. In Emerson’s “Nature” it states, “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” (Emerson 184). This “higher thought of better emotion” can connect to the message of Emerson’s essay, “Self-Reliance”.
In this essay, Emerson desires that each person finds his or her own beauty and entertain his or her own thoughts. He does not believe that one should compromise by becoming part of “the joint-stock company” which is in conspiracy against the individual. In “Self-Reliance” Emerson states, “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind” (Emerson 238). Each and every person is unique and plays a distinct role in life. A role that he or she can discover in their contemplation in nature. Emerson suggest that mankind can discover their individuality away from the conspiracy of society.
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In Whitman’s “Song of Myself”, he celebrates the human body and its ability to become one with the self and nature. Whitman shows that the union of the self and the body allows for a truly transcendental experience in which one attains absolute fulfillment. This joined self is capable of simultaneously being one with nature and standing apart from nature. The self can merge with all things and experience all things, and, in the course of life, one can undergo many transformations while paradoxically remaining immortal. In “Song of Myself”, this large self continually floods into and interpenetrates the small, personal self, including the physical body, and becomes one with it.
It is this union of the absolute self with nature that allows the persona of the poem to express such spontaneous delight in the simple experience of being alive in the flesh. Whitman states, “I loafe and invite my soul,I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass” (Whitman 1312). This announces that the persona in the very first section of the poem. This is a state of being that,” I exist as I am, that is enough, If no other in the world be aware I sit content, And if each and all be aware I sit content” (Whitman 1326). One does not have to perform any actions to experience fulfillment; it simply enjoys being what it is.
These transcendentalists transformed their ideas into poems that were not like any regular poems. Nature has a big effect on individuals because it reveals the truth, lets individuals see who they really are, and helps with an individual’s personal life. Nature reveals the truth because it is able make individuals think about the time in their life that they have lied.
When one becomes one with nature, they begin to see who they really are because of the way nature reveals it. “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 eyeball; I am nothing; I see all” (Emerson 183). This shows that Emerson was so close to nature that he became part of it and now he knows more about himself after the experience. Emerson is saying that everybody can learn more about themselves when they become really close to nature. Nature has a big effect on individuals because it reveals the truth, lets individuals see who they really are, and helps with an individual’s personal life.
Individuals who are not transcendentalists and cannot see how nature helped them should keep in mind what affects their decision. Keeping an idea of this will help them learn and become more fascinated with transcendentalism. Nature is able to change a person’s thoughts about life and make it more positive. It can be important for nature to be in someone’s life because there is a possibility that it can change their way of life forever.
Emerson deals with nature in the form of discovering one’s self. His message is one of non-conformity and individuality. He feels that every man is unique within, and thinks that society and tradition are man’s downfalls. In “The American Scholar”, Emerson explains that “…nature is the opposite of the soul, answering to it part for part. One is seal and one is print. Its beauty is the beauty of his own mind. Its laws are the laws of his own mind” (Emerson 213). By stating this, he stresses that each man is different and far apart from each other.
Emerson uses nature as a means of escape and power. He wants us to look at the world with new eyes and understand that something as simple as a grain of sand, is beautiful in its own way. Once we can understand this concept of pure existence, then we will know what it is like to be an individual. Whitman also discusses nature through discovering one’s self, but unlike Emerson, he feels that we as individuals should embrace society with the exception of embracing and standing for yourself first.
Whitman sees all men as contributing to the greatness of each other. He views mankind and nature as intertwining in the circle of life and death. In his poem, “Song of Myself”, Whitman states that “A child said ‘What is the grass?’ Fetching it to me with full hands” (Whitman 1316). By using a metaphor, such as the bundle of grass, Whitman is able to explain that although each strand of grass is different, they all grow the same way and when put together they are united as one.
