Welcome to Thursday, January 10th! Do-Now: What’s something you remember about Emerson from last class?

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” Today we’re reading another piece by Ralph Waldo Emerson. As I read, listen closely and underline, circle, or otherwise mark any parts where you feel yourself getting lost or not understanding. Don’t worry, we’ll stop after each paragraph and break them down together. 

Reading Questions Once you’re finished, work on your IXL for the week: D.3 and D.4 What does Emerson mean by “There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that…though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till”? Explain your thinking. Why does Emerson say “let us advance and advance on Chaos and the Dark”? Why did Emerson choose the quotes at the beginning to start his essay? What do they add to his piece? What does Emerson say about society and its effects on the individual? Do you agree? Why or why not? Do you agree with Emerson’s statement that “To be great is to be misunderstood”? Explain. Connect Emerson’s essay to two different tenants of Transcendentalism. Be sure to back up each connection with textual evidence! 

Exit Slip Respond to the Transcendentalists. What do you like about how they think? What do you think they should have changed? Is Emerson a good person to emulate?