At Hamilton I am an environmental studies and literature double major and found that Emerson’s work grasped my attention and appealed to both sides of my interests. Emerson discusses nature in a very intimate way in his writing, and on page 203 states “I only wish to indicate the true position of nature in regard to man. Emerson discusses nature in a very intimate way in his writing and mentions “the connection between nature and the affections of the soul,” on page 222. In addition in the work, he says that nature theory should be approached in a somewhat progressive way, and for the time that this essay was written, I think that he demonstrates a progressive view of nature. 

When reading the essay, I took Emerson as an Earth centered person, meaning a point of view in which nature and people are interconnected. The quote that truly represents his Earth centered approach is on page 205, reading, “nature is so pervaded with human life, that there is something of humanity in all…” On this same page he also states, “the world proceeds from the same spirit of the body of man.” These two quotes from his work represent his view of the interconnectedness of nature and man as her says they proceed from the same spirit. He also stated on page 199, “in their view, man and nature are indissolubly joined,” this is representation of a progressive view and also connects to the other views of nature that Emerson shared. He says that humans are learning from nature, and that we learn more than we can communicate, but I think in this work he is doing a great job of communicating the ways that he is personally learning and being shaped by nature. He says that he is a, “lover of uncontained and immortal beauty,” (183) which is an example of his unconditional love for nature that he describes, whether out right or in between the lines of his writing. The work that he did was interesting because I haven’t engaged with 19th century thoughts on nature, but his writing was an ode to his appreciation for nature and its beauty.