Shan’s Blog

Basically, I Become a Transparent Eyeball is talking about nature. Ralph Waldo Emerson goes on and on about nature, and how it’s so great. Truthfully, I didn’t like this poem at all, and the line “I become a transparent eyeball; I am nothing; I see all…” seems really awkward and sketchy to me. It’s a weird way of phrasing it, although I guess it’s just poetic license.

A transparent eyeball would be an eyeball that a person could see through, and it wouldn’t be anything. It would be essentially nothing, and so he becomes nothing in comparison to what nature provides. He says that he becomes egoless while surrounded by nature, and that even his closest friends have no meaning anymore. All other relationships in effect become “foreign and accidental.” The only love that is really important to him is the love of this immortal beauty of nature.

The last few lines mean that, when he lets go of all his worries and becomes merely an observer, he is able to take in all the true beauty of nature around him. In the wilderness, he finds something better and more intimate than he would have ever found if he were in a town, surrounded by people and human life. In the world around him, he is able to see a different setting and is able to see it for its beauty and meaning.

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The American Scholar was extremely long, and I felt it was a bit repetitive in some points. However, the overall theme was good, about how all men are equal and are, essentially, one. He illustrates how everyone should just go and embrace their dreams and goals, and just experience new adventures. This reminds me a lot of Ishmael, who is always looking for something new to do, and goes to sea on a whim and is able to focus on random little things.

Although the ideas that Emerson portrays are morals that people should live by, it’s not that easy. People just can’t pack up their things and take a train to any place they want to go. It’s hard for people to experience new things or do what they love if they don’t have the means or the opportunities of getting there. Not everyone has the freedoms and luxuries that others may have.

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