Emerson And Longfellow Analysis

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Romanticism in the early years of America explored contrasting interpretations such as insight and feeling over rationalist views consisting of science and civilization. American Romantic writers reject rationalism due to the fact that they believe that intuition and imagination yield greater truths. Specifically, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Ralph Waldo Emerson, being two of the many writers that demonstrate romantic ideas, incorporate the fundamentals of nature into their works to display themes about life that they suppose the rational mind fails to detect. Longfellow as well as Emerson utilize the power of nature in order to illustrate distinct truths regarding life. For instance, Longfellow reveals his ideas concerning nature in …show more content…

Through this comparison, it is illustrated that children value nature and the truths that arise from it more so than an adult. This image displays the insight that in order to view the beauty of life in its entirety is to gain an optimistic perspective, much like an imaginative child would possess. Moreover, Emerson executes personification in order to convey his insight regarding nature. In the piece, Emerson grants the human-like quality of smiling to stars when he states, “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 admonishing smile.” By displaying the stars as possessing an “admonishing smile,” it reveals the stars as denouncing yet remaining forgiving and good-natured. Humans foolishly take the presence of a star-lit sky for granted, and they may “admonish” mankind for this action; however, the stars never actually take