Literature
Major events in history have always influenced writers, but it very rare for a writer to influence history. Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of these rare writers. He put into words a new air, a new way of thinking, which began to drift into American minds since the colonial days. His words condensed this air into something tangible, "the literature of the poor, the feelings of the child, the philosophy of the street, the meaning of household life" which has defined the attitude of America. This new attitude was how one must define his own mind based on unique thought, not popular thought, to set himself free from oppression and from his present circumstance. Many Americans such as Whitman, Dickinson, Thoreau, and Douglass have been inspired by this new philosophy and have made it their own through their literature. The seeds of this new philosophy were sown years before Emerson had voiced it. Like Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson thought American life should be built on thought and reason for the welfare of all people. He expressed this by "[declaring] the causes which impels [America] to the separation" from England in the Declaration of Independence. He wanted to show Europe that Americans under democracy knew what was bes
As a slave, Douglass was predestined to live life in darkness. Much like Melville, she emphasized the darker side of the individual soul. Like Emerson, Henry Thoreau found his soul reflected in nature. In her poem "Much Madness is Divinest Sense", Dickinson wrote about how she must "gauge a sour face" because if she spoke her thoughts, she would be rejected and "handled with a chain". He encouraged freedom of thought so that one "shall no longer . Once the seeds were planted, Emerson grew and developed this new revolution of thought that inspired many to write.
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Acceptance Essays
