Democracy in Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self-Reliance," Henry David Thoreau's "Resistance to Civil Government (Civil Disobedience)" and "Life Without Principle"
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A 5 page paper which compares how the views of democratic government are represented in each essay. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Filename: TGemthor.wps

Ralph Waldo Emerson
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5 pages in length. Discusses his life, his works, and analyzes a website devoted to him. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Filename: JGAemrsn.wps

Influence of Hinduism on Emerson’s and Whitman’s Transcendentalism
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This 6 page report discusses the fact that American writers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman could have any connection with the mysticism of Hindu thought and belief. The art form and consciousness of Transcendentalism as expressed by the two actually does echo the sensibilities of Hindu belief, despite the fact that it is not expressed as true Hindu belief. As always, the Americans give it their own unique interpretation. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Filename: BWhinwit.wps

"Circles" by Ralph Waldo Emerson
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A 5 page paper which discusses Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Circles" as it involves its historical and socio-political context. The paper discusses Emerson's use of imagery, tone, form, and symbolism as it involves these contexts. Bibliography lists 2 additional sources.
Filename: RAcircles.wps

Joseph Wambabugh: "Truth" or Fiction?
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(6 pp) Ralph Waldo Emerson asked, "What is life but the angle of vision? A man is measured by the angle at which he looks at objects. What is life but what a man is thinking of all day? This is his fate and his employer. Knowing is the measure of the man. By how much we know, so we are." This statement over a century ago, seems particularly poignant considering police scandals across the country. Is loss of humanity and self, one of the by-products of a police career? Police author Joseph Wambaugh portrays his characters with the resulting human frailties of their work. We will examine his "fiction" to attempt to see how stress affects this vital section of our workforce. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
Filename: BBwambgh.doc

Enlightened Theology - Merging the Science of Reason With the Spirit of Religion
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A 5 page paper that examines the integration of the sciences of philosophical thinking and theological belief beginning with the Age of Enlightenment in the eighteenth century. The progression of this integration is traced across the nineteenth century and through the 1960s racial tensions of the twentieth century. Included are the philosophies of Jonathan Edwards, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William James, W.E.B. DuBois, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
Filename: LCSpirit.doc

Pursuit of Knowledge / Still Unstoppable
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A 5 page argument supporting Ralph Waldo Emerson’s statement that the human mind cannot be stopped. Using Descartes as an example, the writer argues that while not all knowledge appears to be “good” in terms of its benefit to society, it has its own worth and should not be stopped—even if it could be. Other philosophers discussed include Socrates and Hume. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
Filename: Cnknowin.wps

Losing Contact to Find Serenity - The Transcendentalist Ideas of Henry David Thoreau
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A 10 page paper that supports the transcendentalist idea presented by Henry David Thoreau that one must first lose contact with the materialistic world in order to find inner peace and serenity. Discussed are the views presented in Economy and Where I Lived and What I Lived For from Thoreau's Walden as well as a comparison between these works and Ralph Waldo Emerson's Self-Reliance and Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Old Manse. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Filename: LCTrans.doc

"Wallace Stevens' 'Americana' and the American Renaissance"
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A five page paper showing how this poem, written in 1950, reflects back on authors of the American Renaissance such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman. The paper explores Stevens' belief that in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Americans grew to justify materialism and conformity on the mistaken belief that it's the American way, when in fact the writers of the American Renaissance held quite a different philosophy. No additional sources.
Filename: KBamren.wps

The Great Wilderness Debate: A Discussion of Our Concepts of Wilderness and Nature
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A 14 page discussion of the concepts of wilderness and nature as defined by writers and naturalist like Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Aldo Leopold and John Muir and contrasted to contemporary land management practices. Discusses how the concept of wilderness can vary through time, context, and culture. Bibliography lists 7 sources.
Filename: PPwilder.wps

Emerson/Self-Reliance
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A 5 page examination of Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous essay "Self-Reliance." The writer discusses how Emerson urged his American readership to have faith in themselves and also in what was still a very new nation, the United States of America. The writer argues that his essay shows that, in so doing, Emerson summarized characteristics of extreme individualism that today is simply thought of as being "American." No additional sources cited.
Filename: khamself.wps

Why High School Students Should Read Ralph Waldo Emerson
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A 6 page paper which discusses why high school students should read Ralph Waldo Emerson. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
Filename: RAemersnschl.wps

A Comparison of Two Poems
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This 6 page paper compares two poems-Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Monadnoc" and John Greenleaf Whittier's "Among the Hills"—and talks about them in terms of theme and style. The essential meanings of the works are discussed. No additional sources cited.
Filename: SA112Pom.wps

Emerson on Tocqueville
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A 5 page paper which discusses how Ralph Waldo Emerson may have reacted to Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America." Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Filename: RAemerstocq.wps

A Paraphrase of Emerson's "Self-Reliance"
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A 5 page essay that paraphrases, or restates, the principal points of Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous essay "Self-Reliance." No additional sources cited.
Filename: khparrwe.wps

Emerson's Call to Action in The American Scholar is Answered by Whitman in Song of Myself
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In 6 pages, the author discusses Emerson's speech on 'The American Scholar' and shows how Walt Whitman answered this call using Whitman's 'Song of Myself.' Emerson's call was for intellectual, cultural, and spiritual independence, which are important to transcendentalism. No other sources are cited.
Filename: PCewt.doc

Emerson's and Hawthorne's Rebellion
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A 5 page paper discussing two statements: In comparing Hawthorne's statement of 'what we did had a consecration of its own—we felt it so' and Emerson's 'society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of everyone of its members,' there is guilt present, either in barely perceptible tones or in crashing waves that color all of the aspects of life it does not obliterate. The comparison of the two original statements does have Romantic rebellion at their centers. The difference between them is that Hester Prynne, the fictional character, was the only one prepared to live her rebellion. Hester was more a 'man' than was either Emerson or Hawthorne. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
Filename: RomRebel.doc