Teachers' Outlines for Studies in English - LightNovelsOnl.com
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Why does he scorn the custom of traveling?
What do you think are the advantages of foreign travel?
Write on "The right spirit and the wrong spirit in foreign travel."
What conclusion does Emerson lead to from a consideration of reliance on society? on government? on property?
Why do we dislike a conceited man? Compare a conceited with a self-reliant man.
Make a collection of the epigrammatic sayings in this essay that you think are worth remembering.
_Compensation_
What is the theme of this essay?
Ill.u.s.trate the meaning of the law of compensation by referring to its working in nature, in human life, in government.
What did the Greeks mean by their G.o.ddess Nemesis?
Show the folly of trying to escape this law, by pointing out how it invariably works in the results of deeds of crime, of acts of honest labor, of deeds of love.
Explain the following statements and give ill.u.s.trations:
"But for every benefit which you receive, a tax is levied" (p. 124).
"The history of persecution is a history of endeavours to cheat nature"
(p. 129).
What is Emerson's answer to the thoughtless who say: "What boots it to do well?... if I gain any good I must pay for it; if I lose any good I gain some other"? (p. 130)
Explain "Nothing can work me damage except myself" (p. 132).
What compensations are there for our calamities?
Show how this law of compensation is ill.u.s.trated in the acts of some of the characters that you have studied in fiction: for example, Shylock, Ivanhoe, Isaac, Portia, G.o.dfrey Ca.s.s, Silas Marner.
_Friends.h.i.+p_
What is the theme of this essay?
How is friends.h.i.+p different from companions.h.i.+p?
How do friends enlarge and improve us?
Why often do "Our friends.h.i.+ps hurry to short and poor conclusions"? (p.
145).
What are the two elements that go to the composition of friends.h.i.+p?
Ill.u.s.trate each.
What is Emerson's idea about the possibility of helpful conversation where more than two take part?
Discuss, to show the measure of truth that it contains.
What, in the persons themselves, is necessary for the most helpful conversation?
To what extent is it true that "friends are self-elected"? (p. 154).
What are the requirements for perfect friends.h.i.+p? (pp. 154-157).
Why would Emerson do with his friends as with his books? (p. 158). (See _The American Scholar_, pp. 38-44.)
Do you think that he would have us become recluses? Would he have us make no friends.h.i.+ps except ideal ones? Try to summarize the truth of this essay in your own words for those of your own age.
_Prudence_
Explain and ill.u.s.trate the meaning of prudence.
What is the theme of this essay?
What reason does Emerson give for discussing it?
Explain his cla.s.sification in paragraph beginning "There are all degrees of proficiency" (p. 164).
How does the cultured man's view of prudence differ from that of the man who lacks culture?
By referring to the comedies that you know, verify the statement, "The spurious prudence ... is the subject of all comedy" (p. 165).
What are the "petty experiences which usurp the hours and years"? (p.
167). How are we instructed by them?
How does nature punish neglect of prudence?
Name some of the imprudences of men in general, of men of genius, of scholars (pp. 171-173).
What is the result of such imprudence?
Why is prudence called a _minor_ virtue? (p. 175).
To what conclusion does the discussion lead?
_Shakespeare; or, The Poet_
What is the theme of this essay?
