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Emerson's Themes Of Friendship In Emerson's Essays On Friendship

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Emerson's essay on friendship is one of the most remembered and highly respected essays dating back to the 19th century. The information given in the essay is extremely valuable and has helped to explain the universal truth that is friendship. Emerson's essay on friendship is his way of delineating the paths of coherence. These parts fall into two distinct kinds. The first is the consistent enunciation of a view which is the master-tone that Emerson uses from essay to essay while the second is the internal linking of the views in the essay. Some scholars have argued that Emerson's views on friendship are strange and radical while others feel that his logic is sound and valid. Many find that there is a critical connection between friendship and other earthly phenomena which Emerson shows through the use of metaphors to create the assimilation of tangible and intangible things in life. At the outset of Emerson’s Friendship Essay, he gives a description of how friendships begin. However, Emerson says it has nothing to do with putting a little effort. Friendships deal with attraction or affinity. Furthermore, Emerson asserts what …show more content…

He says that friendship is "an encounter of two, in a thought, in a feeling," . This however, is simply an image of friendship and perhaps just a simple admiration at a distance. Emerson continues to say that, "A new person is to me a great event and hinders me from sleep,". Here, he shows appreciation of the friend who brings him the best moments in life. However, the essay also shows Emerson's skepticism about his friend. He says that though he feels proud when his friend accomplishes something, he overestimates the conscience of his friend. This statement means that many may somewhat idolize their friends and they in turn also idolize each other which makes friends unable to read each other's reality and promise

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