THE STUDENT (1941)
"In America," began
the lecturer, "everyone must have a
degree. The French do not think that
all can have it, they don't say everyone
must go to college." We
incline to feel
that although it may be unnecessary
to know fIfteen languages,
one degree is not too much. With us, a
school-like the singing tree of which
the leaves were mouths singing in concert-
is both a tree of knowledge
and of liberty-
seen in the unanimity of college
mottoes, Lux et veritas,
Christo et ecciesiae, Sapient
felici. It may be that we
have not knowledge, just opinions, that we
are undergraduates,
not students; we know
we have been told with smiles, by expatriates
of whom we had asked "When will
your experiment be finished?" "Science
is never finished." Secluded
from domestic strife, Jack Bookworm led a
college life, says Goldsmith;;
and here also as
in France or Oxford, study is beset with
dangers --with bookworms, mildews,
and complaisancies. But someone in New
England has known enough to say
the lecturer, "everyone must have a
degree. The French do not think that
all can have it, they don't say everyone
must go to college." We
incline to feel
that although it may be unnecessary
to know fIfteen languages,
one degree is not too much. With us, a
school-like the singing tree of which
the leaves were mouths singing in concert-
is both a tree of knowledge
and of liberty-
seen in the unanimity of college
mottoes, Lux et veritas,
Christo et ecciesiae, Sapient
felici. It may be that we
have not knowledge, just opinions, that we
are undergraduates,
not students; we know
we have been told with smiles, by expatriates
of whom we had asked "When will
your experiment be finished?" "Science
is never finished." Secluded
from domestic strife, Jack Bookworm led a
college life, says Goldsmith;;
and here also as
in France or Oxford, study is beset with
dangers --with bookworms, mildews,
and complaisancies. But someone in New
England has known enough to say
the student is patience personified,
is a variety
of hero, "patient
of neglect and of reproach"-who can "hold by
himself." You can't beat hens to
make them lay. Wolf's wool is the best of wool,
but it cannot be sheared because
the wolf will not comply. With knowledge as
with the wolf's surliness,
the student studies
voluntarily, refusing to be less
than individual. He
"gives his opinion and then rests on it";
he renders service when there is
no reward, and is too reclusive for
some things to seem to touch him,
not because he
has no feeling but because he has so much.
Choose one of the following:
1. Sate the most striking similiarities and differences with Emerson's "The American Scholar"
2. Write your own creative writing piece (poem, short story, autobiography, etc.) based on one of these figures: "The Hero", "The Philosopher", "The Scholar", "The Poet". In the end, add 5 lines showing how your text relates to Emerson's writings.
is a variety
of hero, "patient
of neglect and of reproach"-who can "hold by
himself." You can't beat hens to
make them lay. Wolf's wool is the best of wool,
but it cannot be sheared because
the wolf will not comply. With knowledge as
with the wolf's surliness,
the student studies
voluntarily, refusing to be less
than individual. He
"gives his opinion and then rests on it";
he renders service when there is
no reward, and is too reclusive for
some things to seem to touch him,
not because he
has no feeling but because he has so much.
Choose one of the following:
1. Sate the most striking similiarities and differences with Emerson's "The American Scholar"
2. Write your own creative writing piece (poem, short story, autobiography, etc.) based on one of these figures: "The Hero", "The Philosopher", "The Scholar", "The Poet". In the end, add 5 lines showing how your text relates to Emerson's writings.
12 comments:
1) In the poem "The Student" by Marianne Moore, there is, like in Emerson's "The American Scholar", the collocation of nature and knowledge - the idea of knowledge coming from nature. Moore achieves this collocation through the comparison of a school to the "singing tree of which the leaves were mouths singing in concert" - which is "both a tree of knowledge and of liberty". The mention of liberty is also relevant, as Emerson points out in page 1864 of his essay that the scholar should be "free and brave".
Emerson's essay was delivered as an oration before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge, which is probably why the incipit of Moore's poem is ""In America," began the lecturer".
There is also an expression of the United States' inferiority complex regarding Europe present in both Moore's poem and Emerson's essay. Moore says "and here also as in France or Oxford, study is beset with dangers", emphasizing the parity of American academia with European academia, and Emerson not only starts his essay by recognizing the disparity between European and American academia - but quickly justifying it as well ("We do not meet (...) for the advancement of science, like our contemporaries in the British and European capitals. Thus far, our holiday has been simply a frinedly sign of the survival of the love of letters amongst a people too busy to give to letters any more." (pag 1855) but also ends his essay with an exortation for an American excelence which will surpass Europe's ("this confidence in the unsearched might of man belongs (...) to the American Scholar. We have listened too long to the courtly muses of Europe.", pag. 1867-68).
Both Moore and Emerson mention the figure of the "bookworm" as a threat to the Scholar/The Man Thinking - " beset with dangers - with bookworms" (Moore); "Hence, instead of Man Thinking, we have the bookworm." (Emerson, pag.1858). Both the poem and the essay also end with an ode to individualism - in the last two stanzas and in page 1867, respectively.
Regarding differences, there are two. Moore's poem begins with the idea of universal higher education (""In America," began the lecturer, "everyone must have a degree. "), which might lead the reader to deduce that every man has the potential to be a Scholar, a Man Thinking. Emerson not only does not state this but in fact actively contradicts it with the fable of the "One Man" who was divided into several men, each with a different function, one of them being the Scholar, the "delegated intellect" (page 1856).
The other difference between these two literary works consists in Moore's questioning of one's intellectual maturity in the poem ("It may be that we have not knowledge, just opinions, that we are undergraduates, not students;"), which is not present in "The American Scholar".
The Wolf
Under the sun, reflections rise light,
Enchanting and clouding sight,
From the raging river surface.
Turning into white fog, floats away.
A speech, but elusive is what the water carries
Before I became a single drop, the body
And repetitively join my spirit to the body
And float through the forest,
Over the canopy, onto the blue mountain
That I felt heavily wise.
When there’s no moon,
In the deep forest gloom,
All around - the sounds insinuate destruction:
The unseen is the wildest beast,
A blind terror. Devoid of all possessions,
Even the king loses hope when he loses wool.
Seated on the stone top, calmly,
Watching everything, surprised by nothing,
Only Wolf’s eyes see the path
A shining glimpse of true knowledge.
Until I became Wolf,
The water is only wool.
The Wolf represents Knowledge within Nature. It is not easy to get. The Scholar needs to watch nature, to learn from it, he cannot stay still surrounded by books, which only carry a fraction of knowledge, the knowledge of one person. He has to find his knowledge. He has to act, to move, to work.
“Poet read, poet write”:
This is when introspection dies.
To know yourself is a miracle,
To know others is trivial.
Only through connection to the within,
Will man feel the oracle upon him.
Why purchase a bottle of water,
When there’s a spring beside you?
Inside you.
Why go after a different path,
And feed on what’s already read,
When you have a thousand bricks in your hand?
The true poet makes use of the world,
he ascends in Reason.
He is its eye and heart,
As opposed to an influenced receiver.
The idea in many passages of Emerson’s The American Scholar (1837), as well as in The Poet (1844), is that a true poet is the one who seeks a direct link to the divine through his own reading and writing, instead of a link to God with the aid of “other men’s transcripts of their readings” (p.1859, TAS). In my poem, Emerson’s individualism is also closely related to the concept of the God Within, to the absorbent eye-ball as well as the theory that man is not only part of Nature, but also uses it for his benefit.
2. (The Poet)
Am I a genius,
if all I create is inside
my head?
I know I am no Poet.
I don't have time to be a poet,
since all the time I have
is occupied by reading other
people's poetry.
However, I think in poems.
I feel sad often and, sometimes,
sadness can be the glue
that connects each word
to the next.
I'll never be a poet.
Books are my muses;
I build around them. Now,
Books are The divine creations.
Never the poet.
Never me.
---
I focused on a few passages from page 1858. In the first place, the sentence: "man hopes: genius creates" served as an inspiration for the first three verses. Then, the idea that the "poet chanting, was felt to be a divine man: henceforth the chant is divine also" influenced the last part of my poem, as well as the notion that books are "for nothing but to inspire" that Emerson exposed.
1)
Em ambos os textos analisados, “The American Scholar” de Emerson e “The Student” de Marianne Moore, há um relacionamento entre o conhecimento e a natureza. Emerson afirma que a natureza é uma espécie de “professora” que nos ensina se observarmos o mundo natural e que a mente e a natureza são semelhantes. A primeira semelhança que enuncia é a de que há um “poder circular” encontrado em ambos e que o espírito e a natureza são eternos. A segunda semelhança que expõe é a de que a ordem é comum a ambos. A mente começa por ver uma realidade caótica e uma infinidade de factos individuais, posteriormente, com uma observação da natureza, começa a classifica-los em categorias. Um grande conhecimento da natureza resulta numa maior compreensão do ser próprio, e vice-versa. (“The first in time and the first in importance of influences upon the mind is that of nature.” (página 1856)). Moore dá também uma grande importância à natureza, comparando o ensino a uma árvore (“is both a tree of knowledge /and of liberty”). É de mencionar que Emerson também se refere a liberdade (“Free even to the definition of freedom (…)” (página 1864)).
Outra semelhança encontrada foi a de que o processo de “estudo” envolve perigos, e o destacado é o perigo dos livros. Emerson afirma que os livros possuem o conhecimento do passado, ideias dos nossos antecedentes, e essas mesmas ideias podem ser a razão do desvivo do pensamento próprio (“Man Thinking must not be subdued by his instruments.” (página 1859)). Diz também que o “bookworm” ignora ideias universais, não é criativo e afasta-se da natureza (“(…) not as such related to nature and the human constitution (…)” (página 1858)). Marianne Moore toca também nesta problemática quando diz: “study is beset with / dangers --with bookworms (…)”.
Há uma comparação entre a América e a Europa em ambos o discurso de Emerson e o poema de Moore, (“like our cotemporaries in the British and European capitals (…)” (página 1855) e “The French” / “in France or Oxford”), talvez estejam a sugerir um esquecimento do autoritário passado Europeu.
Por fim a última semelhança que encontrei foi a de que há uma ideias que haverá sempre novas ideias (“"When will/your experiment be finished?" "Science/is never finished." e “Each age, it is found, must write its own books; or rather, each generation for the next succeeding.” (página 1858).
1)
In both texts it is mentioned the bookworm, that in Emerson’s text is considered a threat to the scholar / the man thinking. These bookworms are men who “start wrong, who set out from accepted dogmas, not from their own sight of principles” (Emerson, p. 1858) and who are a part of the “book-learned class” (p.1858). This means that they don’t have their own opinions, their own values; they don’t think for themselves. This topic is also present in Marianne Moore’s poem: “it may be that we have not knowledge, just opinions (…)”
Nature is also a topic that is referred in these texts. It is mentioned that nature provides knowledge and that school can be compared to a “singing tree of which the leaves were mouths singing in concert - is both a tree of knowledge and of liberty.” (Marianne Moore). Liberty is also mentioned in Emerson text when he says that “free should the scholar be – free and brave.” (page 1864).
It is also mentioned America and Europe: “and here also as in France or Oxford”; “but someone in New England (…)” and “like our cotemporaries in the British and European Capitals” (p. 1855), in Moore’s and Emerson’s texts respectively.
The doors were locked, as lessons were suspended for the day. Poor John should’ve known that; “too bad” he thought.
On that day, he would’ve had more time to go back home. The usually brisk-walking in the park on his way home took the form of a slow-paced stroll through the bed of leaves. Trees were shaken by the autumn wind, the same that had brought with him some fresh orange varnish. The few birds that had stayed were paying tribute to the transparent artist that had painted the whole scenario using that new colour. Following their high notes, John’s slow-paced stroll became then a delicate dance, as he listened to a song he had never paid attention to.
As he rang the doorbell, he could already hear his mom asking the same after-school question.
“Did you get to know something new today?”
“Myself” he would have answered this time.
---
Very short story inspired by Emerson’s words: ‘Know thyself” and […] ‘study nature’, become at last one maxim.
Alessandro Lazzarini
KANSU EKİN TANCA
Looking on a fig tree,
He would see
his words and commas
would make his poetry.
Other he,
Under a fig tree,
would carry the shadow of his soul
into one single berry.
Nature and he,
With a thinking poesy,
Would find the beginning
to the way to the fig tree.
I wrote my poem based on the the figure of " The Scholar" by linking the representation with the image of "The Poet" as well. I have used the insistent use of the pronoun "he", as Emerson also did when he was mentioning the scholar (p.66). And as a dominant element I used the fig tree, which alludes to the Arabian proverb Emerson is quoting after he talks about the "right way of reading." (p.64) Throughout the text, "Man Thinking" is also a leading figure where the scholar is likened to a parrot which repeats the words of the other men.
É possível encontrar uma diferença entre "The American Scholar" de Emerson e "The student" the Moore logo na primeira estrofe do poema, na qual Moore estabelece a diferença de pensamento entre Franceses e Americanos "In America everyone must have a degree. The french do not think that all can have it...", em contraponto tem-se a posição que Emerson defende no seu essay de que o pensamento Americano foi estruturado com base em ideias Europeias (apontando assim, indirectamente, para uma semelhança) "We have listened too long to the courtly muses of Europe." (pg.1868). No entanto, como Emerson, também Moore introduz o perigo do estudo, nomeadamente o de se ser um "bookworm", ou seja de adquirir todo o seu "conhecimento" através de livros escritos por outrem. Esta última consideração leva a outro ponto de contacto entre Moore e Emerson: Moore escreveu "...he gives his opinion and then rests on it...", dando a impressão de que o estudante formula a sua própria visão, sem depender em demasia na dos que lhe antecederam, esta opinião é extensamente defendida em "The American Scholar", veja-se, por exemplo,"...One must be an inventor to read well."(pg.1859) e "...For the ease and pleasure of treading the old road(...) he takes the cross of making his own..."(pg.1863). Moore defende, no entanto, a ideia de que um estudante é "...too reclusive...", já Emerson afirma que "...only so much do I know, as I have lived." (pg.1860), contradizendo, assim, a ideia do "Scholar" como alguém que vive em reclusão, apesar de conceder que, em certos momentos, a solidão é inevitável na vida deste. Os dois autores voltam a concordar no que respeita ao carácter do "Scholar", já que podemos ler no poema que"...he renders service when there is no reward..." e no ensaio se lê "...must relinquish display and immediate fame."(pg1862). Finalmente, Moore refere a importância que a paciência tem no carácter o estudante, também esta ideia é muito marcada por Emerson, em passagens tais como "... patient of neglect, patient of reproach; and bide his own time..." (1863)
A poor, lonesome poetry student is standing alone in the rain. Deseperate for something to drink, thirsty for a distraction which allows him to forget his entire day. With his hoodie up, he stops near a lamp and tries to read the signboard above: The American Scholar. It had an illustration of an ostrych trying to hide its head in a flowering bushes. It was a bar. Something natural, a deep instinct, woke up when he noticed that it was open.
It was nearly empty. Only three customers, each in a different table, as if allergic to one another. Just a quick glance at the clock (18:37 18/06/2007) told that staying a long time would be inadvisable. "Just one drink", he thought.
- Good afternoon - stared the bartender, behind an old, dirty mustache - what can I get you Mister...
"Oh, it is this kind of bars..."
- Emerson! - Being born in a high class family, he did not appreciated when he had to mingle with the common plebe - I would like a... What is a Swedenborg Theory?
The closest customer raised his eyebrow and snarled:
- It an infinite drink! A recipe given by nature that dear Ralph (pointing at bartender) developed, as a seed develops a flower - his hair was twigy-like, logs for legs and a Roots t-shirt, physically he was the exact opposite of Emerson - Nature provides everything, my son! Just search inside yourself! Everything is there! But if you fail to do it, drink one of Ralph's miracles, he drops his soul in each one!
Before Emerson, our unfortunate heroe, could answer or even think about he had just heard, the furthest client raise, laughed forcibly for a while and gave a strong sigh:
- The only useful nature can provide to all of us to be quiet and remain to supply paper, so we can read, re-read, meditate and explore the Past. There is where the truth relies, hidden. The drink you wander about, lad, is a product of a complete, mature destillation, it has rejected every single extra, unecessary element - This new orator had a tag with Waldo written on it, wore thick glasses, a dusty white shirt, and his table was full of old books and stacks of piles of new blank paper sheets - Dear Ralph learned an old recipe and added his own ideas. That is why using your time to go and research in a good library, reading the Old Masters, is better than to go and enjoy nature. Read, read, read!
A great, harsh cough sounded from the last drinker, who stood up, limped until the counter and with an oarse voice:
- Whatcha y'all sayin'? Read books ain't fun at all! Y'all shoulda try been in a crop all day long. Plantin', waterin' the crop or reapin' the harvest! Or y'all shoulda try being ma cousin! He is an important grocer in ma neighbourhood! He trades, he counts, he knows everybody and he is the most famous fella around! - He was a country man, with little "formal" knowledge, with a strapless blue shirt and a cap - this drink right here is the fruit of sweat, experience and patience of dear ol' Ralph! He learned with every single moment in his live and harvested this fine beverage!
Astonished, our unlikely hero asked for one. He went to "The American Scholar" every week to drink and talk to his real teachers. He always felt that every they said made him think. He wrote an essay describing all this called "Men Thinking". The end.
This short-story has a few hidden references to some of Emerson's concepts argued in his "The American Scholar". All three subjects are one of the references that Emerson points out must influence the Scholar: Nature, Books and Action. With all their flaws and greatest elements: Nature is the opposite of the scholar, but it is where he learns everything; Books hold the past but one must discern what is important and re-invent; and Action is vital to a Scholar but one should be meditative. In this story the drink tries to represent the path to reach the State of Man Thinking, which Emerson (character) reaches in the finale.
1)
Existem grandes semelhanças entre o poema “The Student”, de Marianne Moore, e o discurso de Emerson “The American Scholar”.
Emerson considera o Homem como um todo, separado apenas em várias facetas que se prendem com as atividades humanas. Surge assim a noção de “Man Thinking”, ideia de que todo o Homem contribui para o pensamento e conhecimento, numa união entre a ação, a natureza e o passado, presente maioritariamente nos livros.
No poema de Moore surge uma personagem, Jack Bookworm, que representa o oposto da noção do “Man Thinking” de Emerson. “Hence, instead of Man Thinking, we have the bookworm.” (p. 1858). Jack Bookworm é alguém que ilustra aquilo que Emerson define como sendo a amputação do corpo e a perda da união. Este homem abdicou de ter uma vida doméstica para se dedicar exclusivamente à vida académica. Emerson, no seu discurso, utiliza o mesmo termo “bookworm” para definir uma classe de intelectuais que valoriza os livros por eles mesmo e não pela sua relação com a natureza e constituição humana e que, portanto, não cria verdadeiro conhecimento, apenas repete o que foi dito antes.
Ligada a esta ideia, Moore remete para os perigos do estudo, que define como sendo “bookworms”, “mildews” e “complaissance”. Este é o resultado da corrupção do valor dos livros, da atribuição a estes do valor máximo no conhecimento, sendo que universidades e livros são assentes no pensamento de outros, sem haver verdadeiro incentivo ao pensamento próprio.
Outra semelhança entre os dois textos é a noção de que não há recompensa pelo trabalho do verdadeiro pensamento, livre dos dogmas dos livros, e que é muitas vezes recebido com hostilidade. Moore fala do estudante como sendo um “patient of neglect and reproach”; Emerson menciona como aquele que busca o conhecimento muitas vezes incorre em “disdain of the able who should shoulder him aside” (p. 1893). A classe intelectual aceita mal um livre-pensador que busca mais do que o conhecimento dos livros, alguém que obedece à Razão e ao conhecimento que esta traz, que questiona os conhecimentos estabelecidos e busca conhecer a mente humana. Tanto Moore como Emerson mencionam ainda que este trabalho não é remunerado, reconhecido e que é feito de forma individual. Emerson refere que “in going down into the secrets of his own mind, he has descended into the secrets of all minds.” (p. 1863).
No entanto, há diferenças nas duas obras. Nos versos “It may be that we/have not knowledge, just opinions, that we/ are undergraduates/ not students (…), Moore parece colocar na noção de “knowledge” um grande enfâse de conhecimento recebido através dos livros, de um curso universitário. Para Emerson, como já foi referido, o conhecimento é uma junção de fatores, sendo que a utilização livre da Razão é fundamental. Há uma frase de Emerson que exemplifica esta ideia: “Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books.” (p. 1858). O que Emerson quer dizer é que a ideia que se tem de um estudante é de que ele tem que aceitar sem questionar as ideias de grandes homens, grandes livros. No entanto, fica esquecido o facto de que estes homens também leram os seus antepassados, mas questionaram as suas ideias e criaram ideias próprias. Assim, um estudante está no seu direito e dever de questionar o que lê, pensar por si e formar opiniões, sem que essas ideias sejam descartadas à partida pela sua suposta falta de conhecimento.
"Scholars"
Perhaps the time is already come,
When it ought to be,
And will be,
Something else.
The time has come for us to wake -
Our limbs stretch as we try
To catch what we've been chasing before
It no longer is
But we are students,
Scholars,
And time is a divine catastrophe that just
Won't fit in our wrists.
And although,
There is never a beginning
Nor an end,
I know,
That we can't help but grab
As many books
As we can
Emerson's The American Scholar inspired me to write this poem. His thoughts resonated with my own and helped me build my idea of time, knowledge, and the meaning behind being a student.
(Note: the first four lines of my poem are Emerson's words (lines 10-11 page 1855) )
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