. One year course in English and American literature; an introduction to the chief authors in English and American literature, with reading lists and references for further study. sunder the title Representative Men. His impressions ofEngland were recorded in a second book, English slavery question was now becoming prominent,and Emerson unhesitatingly took his stand with the op-ponents of slavery, though this step cost him some lec-ture engagements which he could ill afford to lose. Hecontinued lecturing and writing until 1870, when hisstrength began to fail. He died in 1882. Emerso
. One year course in English and American literature; an introduction to the chief authors in English and American literature, with reading lists and references for further study. sunder the title Representative Men. His impressions ofEngland were recorded in a second book, English slavery question was now becoming prominent,and Emerson unhesitatingly took his stand with the op-ponents of slavery, though this step cost him some lec-ture engagements which he could ill afford to lose. Hecontinued lecturing and writing until 1870, when hisstrength began to fail. He died in 1882. Emersons work includes both prose and poetry. Hispoetry has never been generally popular ; it has passagesof exquisite beauty, but it is often obscure. He had no J^ylj/a/do £™*nfe* RALPH WALDO EMERSON 169 ear for music, and his verse lacks the singing quality. Yetsome of his shorter poems, such as Rhodora, the ConcordHymn, and Days, have a rare excellence. His prose writings, which fill nine volumes, are all inthe form of essays, and belong to the class known as re-flective essays. He does not describe places, as Irvingdid in the Sketch Book, nor draw imaginary characters, as. EMERSONS HOME, CONCORD, MASS. Addison had done in the De Coverley Papers, but hechooses general subjects, such as History, Friendship,Compensation, and gives us his thoughts on these. Some-times he is not easy reading; sometimes you can see no con-nection between one sentence and the next; but light will flashout a moment later, and you will be more than repaid forthe delay. His nature was singularly pure, and his mentalvision keen; he seemed to see through the disguises of theworld, and penetrate to the soul beneath ; so that in reading 170 THE NEW ENGLAND GROUP him you learn to look at things in a new light, to see truthsthat you had not suspected. He is thus one of the mostinspiring writers in our literature. So noted a critic asMatthew Arnold calls Emersons Essays the most impor-tant work done in prose i
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