Self-Reliance--Emerson
Click above to access
Click above to access
Reading and Writing Workshop
The Voice Within – Exploring Emerson’s Self-Reliance
Overview:
This workshop explores themes of individuality, nonconformity, and self-trust in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance. Participants will read and analyze selected excerpts from the essay alongside complementary public domain texts, engage in close reading and philosophical reflection, and develop personal and analytical writing in response.
Session 1: Introduction to Emerson and Transcendentalism
Reading:
Session 2: The Power of the Individual
Reading:
Session 3: Nonconformity and Society’s Expectations
Reading:
Session 4: Work, Genius, and Self-Expression
Reading:
Session 5: The Soul and the Oversoul
Reading:
Session 6: Critiquing and Reimagining Emerson
Reading:
Overview:
This workshop explores themes of individuality, nonconformity, and self-trust in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance. Participants will read and analyze selected excerpts from the essay alongside complementary public domain texts, engage in close reading and philosophical reflection, and develop personal and analytical writing in response.
Session 1: Introduction to Emerson and Transcendentalism
Reading:
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance (Introduction and first paragraphs)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16643 - Margaret Fuller, Woman in the Nineteenth Century (excerpt)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7211
- Reflective journal: “What does it mean to trust oneself?”
- Short response: Compare Emerson’s view on individualism with Fuller’s.
Session 2: The Power of the Individual
Reading:
- Self-Reliance, paragraphs on “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.” https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16643
- Walt Whitman, Song of Myself (excerpts from sections 1 and 20)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1322
- Literary comparison essay: How do Emerson and Whitman define the self?
- Creative writing: Compose a poetic “self-song.”
Session 3: Nonconformity and Society’s Expectations
Reading:
- Self-Reliance, passages on consistency, nonconformity, and the “hobgoblin of little minds”
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16643 - Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience (excerpt)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71
- Argumentative essay: Is nonconformity a moral obligation?
- Discussion post: In what ways does society discourage self-reliance?
Session 4: Work, Genius, and Self-Expression
Reading:
- Self-Reliance, passages on work, vocation, and “envy is ignorance, imitation is suicide”
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16643 - Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Part One – on work ethic and originality)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20203
- Memoir-style writing: “A moment when I followed my inner voice.”
- Synthesis essay: Compare Emerson’s and Franklin’s views on labor and individuality.
Session 5: The Soul and the Oversoul
Reading:
- Self-Reliance, spiritual reflections on divine presence in the individual
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16643 - Emerson, The Over-Soul (excerpt)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16715
- Analytical essay: How does Emerson redefine spirituality and religious experience?
- Reflective writing: “When have I felt most connected to something greater than myself?”
Session 6: Critiquing and Reimagining Emerson
Reading:
- Select passages from Self-Reliance (choose areas students connected to or challenged most)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16643 - Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (chapters 1 and 10)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23
- Critical response: In what ways might Emerson’s vision exclude the experiences of marginalized people?
- Final project: Compose your own “Self-Reliance” essay, incorporating your personal philosophy.