After some further thought, and the conclusion that the scope of my initial proposal was too all encompassing, I have settled on the following topic for my expanded project proposal (all commentary is welcome!). I would like to focus on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s influence on Whitman and the themes of his poetry. Whitman has stated: “I was simmering, simmering, simmering, Emerson brought me to a boil.” Key questions for my project include: How aware of Emerson was Whitman and what specific writings of Emerson’s brought Whitman to a “boil”? What themes from Emerson’s key essays and speeches (Nature, The American Scholar, The Poet, others TBD) can we see reflected in the segments of Whitman’s poetry and prose that we have read? What key differences do I see between the two writers (thematic or otherwise)? In addition, I would also like to spend some time looking into Whitman and Emerson’s direct interactions and relationship following the initial publication of Leaves of Grass in 1855. My rationale for pursuing this topic is twofold. Firstly, I am interested in the various influences that contributed to the style and themes of Whitman’s poetry. Secondly, I have not read any Emerson (or any other of the Transcendentalists) and would like to use this project as an excuse to do so. In terms of the evidence of my learning, I would propose using a presentation style format that outlines some of the basic background to the questions I propose above and, more importantly, takes specific quotations from Whitman’s writings and ties them to specific quotations of Emerson’s writings in an effort to best illuminate overlapping themes by the two writers. This project will require me to read and analyze several of Emerson’s key works and to conduct research on Whitman’s literary and personal interactions with Emerson. The final presentation will allow me to outline a number of the key themes of Whitman’s poetry that we have discussed this semester and compare and contrast these themes to the writings of one of the most respected intellectual minds of Whitman’s time.Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Expanded Project Proposal - Emerson and Whitman
After some further thought, and the conclusion that the scope of my initial proposal was too all encompassing, I have settled on the following topic for my expanded project proposal (all commentary is welcome!). I would like to focus on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s influence on Whitman and the themes of his poetry. Whitman has stated: “I was simmering, simmering, simmering, Emerson brought me to a boil.” Key questions for my project include: How aware of Emerson was Whitman and what specific writings of Emerson’s brought Whitman to a “boil”? What themes from Emerson’s key essays and speeches (Nature, The American Scholar, The Poet, others TBD) can we see reflected in the segments of Whitman’s poetry and prose that we have read? What key differences do I see between the two writers (thematic or otherwise)? In addition, I would also like to spend some time looking into Whitman and Emerson’s direct interactions and relationship following the initial publication of Leaves of Grass in 1855. My rationale for pursuing this topic is twofold. Firstly, I am interested in the various influences that contributed to the style and themes of Whitman’s poetry. Secondly, I have not read any Emerson (or any other of the Transcendentalists) and would like to use this project as an excuse to do so. In terms of the evidence of my learning, I would propose using a presentation style format that outlines some of the basic background to the questions I propose above and, more importantly, takes specific quotations from Whitman’s writings and ties them to specific quotations of Emerson’s writings in an effort to best illuminate overlapping themes by the two writers. This project will require me to read and analyze several of Emerson’s key works and to conduct research on Whitman’s literary and personal interactions with Emerson. The final presentation will allow me to outline a number of the key themes of Whitman’s poetry that we have discussed this semester and compare and contrast these themes to the writings of one of the most respected intellectual minds of Whitman’s time.
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It's a boatload of work to also research Emerson, but since you want to, I think that a comparison is a great idea.
ReplyDeleteAnd when you say "presentation format" do you mean a powerpoint of some sort?
Thanks for the comment (and warning) Fanny! Yes, was thinking power point which I am sure is a close second to the 3-5 page essay in terms of the boringness factor. I want to come up with some ways to make it visually appealing. Not sure yet exactly how to do this but maybe some ideas will hit me as I do the reading/research.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Fanny in that Emerson is a big undertaking as far as research, especially if you haven't read much (or any) of his work. But I think you're a brave soul for taking on two giants of the literary world, considering the amount of research.
ReplyDeleteAs far as presenting your research and knowledge, I could imagine this a couple different ways, depending on how artistic you want to get. It could be a lecture, which would include writing on a whiteboard some sort of comparison chart with arrows between Emerson and Whitman. Or, it could be a presentation of images representing the shared ideas of Emerson and Whitman, to go alongside a lecture/speech that presents further details of your research.
Emerson-Whitman is a time-honored topic . . but still very illuminating. Perhaps one way to start is to limit yourself to a couple of Emerson texts - - say American Scholar, The Poet, Self-Reliance? - - and then work from there. I like the idea of pairing or twinning quotes - - almost like a mashup of Whitman/Emerson . . along with some commentary. There might be some really imaginative ways of presenting this relation and its significance . . .
ReplyDeleteThanks fir the comment Amylia. Super helpful.
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