(1)"The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood" Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote this in Nature. this idea of reverting to childhood in some ways echos my thoughts on the subject, children naturally stay healthy by playing and enjoying the world around them, wheras jaded adults have accepted the world for what it is and stop being astounded by its wonders.

Emerson also talks about how nature can change depending on the type of mood you are in, "Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or mourning piece." says Emerson of the duality of nature.

this is a good example of transcendentalism because of the authors love of nature, but with a slightly more down to earth tone. Loving nature for it's natural beauty instead of the romantics love of it for it's amazing ability to inspire imagination. Emerson speaks of the importance of receding from society and the importance of being self sustainable, using your own energy to continue to make energy for yourself.

(2)Emerson's Self-Reliance is an interesting piece or writing. he speaks of the importance of hard work,"A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best." He also speaks of the importance of being able to survive alone, speaking of societies as "in the conspiracy against the manhood of every one of it's members." I like his idea that to be great is to be misunderstood, people ahead of their time are often looked down upon by general society just because of the sheer fact of a person being more advanced than another, the other people resent this man for his forward thinking attitude.

Emerson talks at great lengths of hard work and the importance of making your own life. emerson obviously values simplicity, his idea's of resistance to organized society and trusting yourself instead of over analyzing everything you do. there seems to be a common thread in transcendentalism of receding from society in order to understand yourself better.

(3)I enjoy Thoreau's writing style a fair bit more than Emerson's. Thoreau doesn't try to over complicate his writing, instead opting for clear words that are to the point and easily understandable. I agree with the statement, "the government is best which governs the least
", but we would need a utopia for anarchy to still be able to be peaceful. I think that Thoreau was jaded by his incarceration which led him to only think of the negatives about government. I wonder if Thoreau would want to sacrifice the protection of his human rights, or the protection from robbery or something of that sort. I strongly agree that we should not be governed by the majority vote and instead what is morally right but again, we do not live in a perfect world and in his own words,"[Government] is liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it."

Thoreau's Resistance to civil government is probably the penultimate description of transcendentalism's relation to government, people would need to interact with each other less in order for his theories of government to work, having all the individuals transcend the idea of an organized government and live righteously and morally to all other humans. we all know this can't happen but it is a nice idea.



1)) if I were in the situation of being engaged to my high school sweetheart and she wanted to go to a school a very far away, I would tell my fiancee to go to school and let us go our separate ways until she and I are ready to settle down, I do not think that directly after highschool is the time to get married, people need time to grow and experience life on their own before settling in.

I think that a transcendentalist would do something similar in this situation. Transcendentalists value self reliance and self awareness through knowing themselves and trusting themselves. Transcendentalists believed that the voice in your head was the voice of god, telling you to do what was good and true. "nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." says Emerson in Self Reliance."