ments? Are such motives high or low? To what extent do they come into your school-life now? Into other phases of your life?

Write a paragraph summarizing Emerson's doctrine of compensation. Write another stating your own point of view.

SELF-RELIANCE

Paragraph 1: Every man has the thoughts and feelings the great artist expresses.

Is it your experience that you recognize your own thought often in the expressions of great men? Can you explain why this should be so? Do you care much for a piece of art or literature that does not express your observation or experience? Of course, you may not have put your thought into words, but you recognize your subconscious thought in the picture or the poem. Why do you sometimes find yourself interested in a book to which you were indifferent a year or two before? What is Emerson's definition of "genius"? What is the fundamental difference between it and that given by the great critic, Matthew Arnold: "Genius is mainly an affair of energy"? Or that given by the painter, Hogarth: "Genius is nothing but labor and diligence"? Or that given by the scientist, Buffon: "Genius is nothing but a great capacity for patience"? Can you see why a scientist should give Buffon's definition, or an artist give Hogarth's?

Paragraphs 2, 3: Every man is of unique importance in the

world.

Explain the first sentence in paragraph 2. Compare yourself with others whom you know well; do you find yourself exactly like them? Or could you, if you would, do something for society that no other person could do? Compare Heroism,

paragraph 13. Is the feeling described in paragraph 3 the same as conceit?

Paragraphs 4, 5: Independence is natural to man.

Emerson proves his assertion by describing the behavior of children, and contrasting it with that of grown persons. Does your observation of the world tally with his? Do you think that young persons who behave as he describes are unpleasantly bold?

Paragraph 6: Society demands conformity, not independ

ence.

But self-reliance is a centrifugal force; if society is to be held together, must it not be by a centripetal force, like conformity? Is it possible to live so detached a life in the world? Paragraph 7: The true man judges everything from his own point of view.

What sort of man should you take Emerson to be from what he says in this paragraph? What sort of man was he in his dealings with others? Have you seen such philanthropists as he describes? Ought you to be prejudiced against a good cause by their failings? Does Emerson mean that we are never to take advice? How significant, as a limitation to this extreme statement, is the clause "when my genius calls me"? Is it manly to give to a cause in which we have no interest, simply because we are asked to do so?

Paragraph 8: A man ought not even to do good from a lower motive.

Have you ever done a good deed to atone for a bad one? Or "to be seen of men"? Are such motives high?

Paragraph 9: One must "live his own life."

But should one be absolutely indifferent to the opinion of others? Have you experienced the truth of the third sentence? Why is it impossible for another person to understand

your duty as correctly as you do? Can another person choose your profession for you? Memorize the last sentence. Name some such "great" man.

Paragraph 10: Insincere conformity is bad.

What profession did Emerson give up because he could not sincerely conform to its usages? What is the harm in such conformity? Explain "one or another handkerchief.” Does the latter part of the paragraph express a common experience?

Paragraph 11: Non-conformists must brook the rage of society.

Compare with paragraph 6. Why is the disapproval of the cultivated classes so much less fearful than that of the ignorant? In our own small circle of society are we more critical of those that do not conform in small matters or of those that disregard great principles?

Paragraphs 12-14: We are afraid of being inconsistent if we are independent.

The first terror is that explained in paragraph 11. Try to state clearly the difference between a stubborn consistency and a reasonable consistency; between a reasonable consistency and fickleness. You will make your statements clearer if you illustrate them by examples. What value do you give to the saying "Consistency, thou art a jewel"? Is the last sentence of paragraph 14 true? Is the great man ahead of his times? See Lowell, The Present Crisis. In how far is consistency in social institutions opposed to social progress?

Paragraphs 15, 16: A man should live out his own nature, honestly, day by day, and he will be, on the whole, consistent. Explain the second sentence in paragraph 15; the fourth; the last two. Explain the figure in paragraph 16 comparing

life to the path of a ship. Emerson is not in this paragraph advising us to be shortsighted, but to do every moment what seems right and best in the light we have at that moment not in the light we had yesterday. Explain the doctrine of "the cumulative force of character."

Paragraphs 17-20: All true men should regard themselves as the equals of "great men."

The first sentence in paragraph 17 puts aside the two "terrors" that have just been discussed. With sentences 5 and 6 compare the preparations made in Friendship, paragraph 3. Is it wise for us all to aspire to become "centers" and "causes"? Is one likely to become what he does not aspire to be? Emerson advises also, "Hitch your wagon to a star." If every man has in him the elements of greatness, why should one be over-awed by a famous man? Every man may have the dignity of a prince, in character and in selfrespect.

Paragraphs 21, 22: Original, creative action comes from intuition, which proceeds from the fountain of universal life. A man's intuitions are, therefore, always to be trusted, and what he knows by intuition is always true. In matters where the intuitions guide us, we are not bound to listen to the teaching of other men. The past has no claim upon a man. Paragraphs 23, 24: We are too much bound by the traditions of the past.

What civilization was there until recently in China, where men have said for centuries, "What was good enough for my father is good enough for me"? Explain the last two sentences of paragraph 23. Principles are eternal, but each generation has its own way of expressing them (paragraph 24). This we saw in our discussion of the mediaval knight and the modern gentleman, in connection with the

essay on Manners (paragraph 3). What lines in Lowell's The Present Crisis express the thought of progress Emerson has put into this essay?

Paragraph 25: How can men recognize the leading of this divine intuition? Are example and experience of no value? Does it lead one to or from conformity? Is this the feeling that is higher than reason? (See Heroism, paragraph 5).

Paragraph 26: There is life only in progress.

Memorize the first sentence. Have you ever heard thoughtful persons say that one cannot stand still when he is going up the hill of life that if he is not climbing upward he is slipping backward? Notice that the words "plastic" and "permeable" in the last sentence imply change, also.

Paragraphs 27, 28: The power of self-help is necessary to a complete existence.

How does Emerson show this by examples from nature? Cite some examples from your own observation of nature, and from your experience of life.

Paragraphs 29-33: No man must permit himself to be hindered by others or by the ideals of others.

Does Emerson advise you to become a hermit and abjure all social duties and responsibilities? Or simply to be "in the world but not of it"? With paragraph 30 compare the statement in Heroism, paragraph 13, that every person has “a new and untried problem" to solve. He cannot work it out successfully on rules that apply to other problems. Does Emerson condemn under the terms "lying hospitality” and "lying affections" those courteous expressions by which we sometimes try to disguise an indifference, a vexation, or a dislike of which we are ashamed? Should we always "speak our minds" to people? Will the doctrine of one's duty to