Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson says, "To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars." Normally, when I want to have some "alone time" to think, or to work, I go to my room (my bedroom, not my dorm room). I have always done what I feel is my best work here. It is comfortable, and a place where I know that I don't have to worry about physical things. Emerson discourages this, and instead suggests that we all go to nature. I think that this is a great suggestion. Another thing, is that you really need to be alone. We went outside one day for class, and it wasn't the best experience. The first reason is probably half of it-- I was running a fever, with a cough. I wasn't too excited when we were told to go walk outside for an hour in 90 degree weather. The other reason, was that we were in a group. I couldn't focus on the nature that surrounded me like I was told to do. I have found that night is the best time for me to focus on nature. Like Emerson, the stars have had a huge impact on my life. 


"When we speak of nature in this manner, we have a distinct but most poetical sense in the mind. We mean the integrity of impression made by manifold natural objects. It is this which distinguishes the stick of timber of the wood-cutter, from the tree of the poet." This was a part of the essay that was a little hard for me to wrap my head around. I get that there is a difference, but what the poet writes about, is a lot of times what they see.

Nature can fix anything. "There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, -- no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare ground, -- my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, -- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all" Emerson writes that everything in his life vanishes, and he can become one with nature. All of his previous worries, or troubles go away when he is nature. He becomes nothing, but he can see everything with a much more unbiased view.