tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33932587.post98313491889649807..comments2022-03-24T10:03:23.760-07:00Comments on Advanced American Literature: Emerson's "Nominalists and Realists"heisquitemadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16477199984584789385noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33932587.post-88431376656443355492007-02-02T09:40:00.000-08:002007-02-02T09:40:00.000-08:00-Cassy
I like your essay, but some of the things ...-Cassy <br />I like your essay, but some of the things that you could work on are sentence fluency, sometimes you have so many ideas that they all kind of get smashed together and are somewhat hard to follow, I would also like to see you incorperate your ideas into each paragraph instead of just a little blurp at the end. You could also work on your paragraphing so that your ideas work together in a more organized format.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33932587.post-15189383597205939412007-02-02T09:30:00.000-08:002007-02-02T09:30:00.000-08:00Cassy, your essay is well writen but at times I ge...Cassy, your essay is well writen but at times I get lost on what youa re trying to say. Your essay is kind of written like one of Emerson's essay, A little confusing. But other then that the essay is good.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33932587.post-52178411287910287122007-02-01T21:55:00.000-08:002007-02-01T21:55:00.000-08:00In his essay of Nominalists and Realists, Emerson’...In his essay of Nominalists and Realists, Emerson’s thematic characteristics vary anywhere from demeaning to existence of others and belittling their existence to admiring greatness. In his essay, Emerson states “We are greatly too liberal in our constitution of each other’s faculty and promise,” and begins his process of putting down others. When we don’t trust the faculties and promises of others, we chose to rely on our self, which Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote an essay about, titled “Self-Reliance.” <br /><br /> Emerson wrote “All persons exist to society by some shining trait of beauty of utility, which the have.” This quote is very thoughtful and could bring you down or build you up, depending how you look at it. Both of these quotes express Emerson’s views and what he truly believes of our societies. Emerson believes that no man can ever measure up to any man of history, and makes this clear when he writes “But there are no such men as we fable; no Jesus, nor Pericles, nor Caesar, nor Angelo, nor Washington, such as we have made.” <br /><br /> What Emerson thinks of what men and women are capable of in the future is not very well thought out. Emerson failed to realize that history repeats itself, not only in economical aspects, political aspects but in the aspect of greatness. If it is possible to repeat then we shall have such men as Jesus, Pericles, Cesar, Angelo, and Washington. However debatable this may be, our president is a great man, or at least great enough to run our country. <br /><br /> Emerson states at the beginning of his essay, that “We are greatly too liberal in our constitution of each other’s faculty and promise.” By this Emerson means we put too much trust in others. If we were to live by Emerson, we would practice “Self-Reliance.” We would be able to be our own person, and trust we could be a great as anyone we wanted to, presently or in history. <br /><br /> To be nominal by definition is to be a name only, or to be a form of something. To be a realist mean to represent things as they really are. All the men Emerson mentions were men of either category, but to be both would be impossible due to contradictory definitions. <br /><br /> Emerson says “We consecrate a great deal of nonsense, because it was allowed by great men.” This simply means we keep all the good work of the men of the past, and save it for later. Yet again Emerson contradicts his work, and defines himself in one sentence. We have consecrated much of Emerson’s work, and his work is still studied today. To consecrate means to set apart and Emerson’s quote says we consecrate to work of great men, and much of this essay I believe to build him self up. Emerson also says “I cannot often enough say that a man is only a relative and representative nature.” <br /><br /> Emerson goes on in his essay to say the realists had a famous dispute with the nominalists. Emerson says the realists, the ones who really get life, and have everything figured out, will be better off. Realists, such as Jesus, work for what they want. Nominalists want to have the cake and eat it too, and want others to spell things out for them. Realists are great men; nominalists are still working towards greatness. I know this because Emerson continues to say “Great men, or men of great gifts you shall easily find, but symmetrical men never.” <br /><br /> Emerson continues the flow of his essay with “Young people admire talents or particular excellences;” Talents and excellences both vary. A talent is defined as a special ability. Some people’s special ability may be holding their breath until they turn purple, which I would not find admirable. Admirable would be doing the right or noble thing, when no one else would be willing to. Excellence, as far as that goes, can merely be class; which Emerson had plenty enough of. <br /><br /> I believe Emerson to be equally right and wrong in his views of nominalists and realists. I believe that if you tried, you could be both.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com