American Literature / Unit 7 AML 0606 short lesson, about 20 seconds
"The American Scholar" and Intellectual Independence
Captions available
The idea
In this address of eighteen thirty-seven Emerson tells American thinkers to stop deferring to Europe and to their own libraries, calling books good only when they inspire rather than instruct. The scholar's duties are to observe nature, to read actively, and to act, since thought without action is incomplete.
In practice
Nature, books, and action.
Where people slip
Books are useful only when they provoke.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Unlocks
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it