Rhetorical Devices In Self Reliance

“Self-Reliance” Analysis The transcendentalist era, a reaction to the scientific world that preceded it, produced many skilled, reflective writers. Ralph Waldo Emerson expresses this beautiful form of writing in his essay titled “Self-Reliance” where he delves into the idea of obeying one’s own, undoctored thoughts and feelings. Emerson’s application of contrasting ideas, asyndeton, and metaphor aids him in extending his belief that individuality is sacred and deserves the utmost respect. Emerson values the individual thought more highly than any monumental verse from any historical hero, and he contrasts these two in order to express that. He advises every individual to “detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages” (Emerson 1). No one man, according to Emerson, shall take the word of any wise man to be more true or important to himself than his own, natural word. It is hoped that one will abide by his immediate impression as to avoid taking his own opinion from another man because he did not have faith in himself initially.
He unleashes a chain of metaphors, “envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide…”, that do not dwindle in importance because of his deliberate omission of conjunctions (Emerson 2). Producing a continuous wave of thought within the mind of the reader is the goal that Emerson accomplishes with this form of writing. He denies the reader a chance to ponder on one clause of a sentence because his sentence does not pause; instead, the sentence is broken up into equal, although separate, parts where no one phrase carries more importance or dramatic effect than