Emerson's Nonconventional Essay: Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson's nonconventional essay as a whole seeks to substantiate that humans do not fully immerse themselves in nature’s pulchritude as they should due to the trivial distractions of society. For Emerson, unification between humans and nature is the key in having a fulfilling existence in life. He states that man should take “action proportioned to nature” in order to avoid “grop[ing] among the dry bones of the past” (Emerson 1). Because nature as a whole is constantly changing from day to day, Emerson feels it is an appropriate model for the human race. To corroborate this idea, he poses a rhetorical question in asking “To what end is nature?” (Emerson 1). The answer to this is simply none. Therefore, in order to counteract this “retrospective