Hello all. I have your next writing assignment ready to go (it will count as a short essay assignment). So by now you have read a lot of Emerson. And a lot of you in your essays said that he is a very confusing, and at times frustrating, writer. I totally agree. We'll be reading more of him, but we'll also be transitioning to other writers, most specifically Henry David Thoreau (who is much, much easier to understand). So this assignment is going to be a pretty straightforward one. The prompt is:

What do you think of Emerson?

I want you to be VERY specific here. Don't just say he's confusing--tell me why, and tell me the implications of that. Many people have said that Emerson is confusing on purpose, and that is a kind of unkindness to his readers (I don't disagree). So talk about that kind of stuff. You can write whatever you want in any kind of way you want; but again, be VERY specific. The more specific the better. Use quotes, then talk about this quotes. Use Thoreau to help you explain Emerson, etc.

This will be our first foray into the writings of Thoreau; so I want you to do something very specific as you read. Think about Emerson while reading Thoreau, and compare the two writers' style and compare how the different writers effect you differently. Many people have said that Thoreau is merely an Emerson copycat, so I want you to think about that. I want you to come up with a conclusion about whether or not you agree with that, and what it means if you do (or if you don't). Thoreau is, without question, the writer from this era that is most widely read, but at the time of his writing he was no where near as popular as Emerson. What does that mean? And why do you think that's true?