Zhu 1 Kelsey Zhu Hodum English III AP2nd 10 Dec 2011 Fall Semester Exam Essay In the mid-nineteenth

century America, Transcendentalism was a rising literary and philosophical movement. Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of these writers. In his essay Language, his central argument is that language itself is a symbol of Nature by the middleman of spiritual facts. Emerson conveys this by using logos appeals, particularly style manipulation, exemplum, deductive reasoning, as well as pathos appeals including figurative language and imagery. First, the entire essay is structured in a very logical manner. The author presents his thesis at the very beginning clearly and concisely: 1. Words are signs of natural facts. 2.Particular natural facts are symbols of particular spiritual facts. 3. Nature is the symbol of spirit. These three sentences have the effect of linking the three items together, and each number corresponds to a later paragraph. Emerson formats the essay in this way to create a logical progression of ideas that the reader can comprehend quickly and unmistakably. The first body paragraph (Words are signs of natural facts) demonstrates more logical appeals such as parallel structure and exemplum. Not unlike the thesis itself, Emerson states, Right means straight; wrong means twisted. Spirit primarily means wind; transgression, the crossing of a line; supercilious, the raising of an eyebrow. By listing these different examples one after another, he conveys almost a sense of urgency; that if all these words are proving his point, his argument must be rightwords do come from facts. Emerson strengthens this

Zhu 2 sentiment by bringing up a more relatable example, children and savages who use only nouns or names of things, which they convert into verbs, and apply to analogous mental acts. In some ways this also works as a citation of traditional culture because children are universal part of everyones cultures. Any parent or older sibling would understand the authors reasoning here. As Emerson proceeds to explain the second part of his argument, that this origin of words that convey a spiritual importis our least debt to nature, he uses much of the same logical appeals but also adds in imagery and figurative language, which are ethos. He again utilizes parallel structure, emphatically stating, An enraged man is a lion, a cunning man is a fox, a firm man is a rock, a learned man is a torch. Truly, the only difference between this and the one above is that here Emerson is juxtaposing to spiritual facts natural facts. His argument is now lined up both vertically and horizontally, so to speak. Subsequently, he combines the devices of rhetorical question and imagery when he asks, Who looks upon a river in a meditative hour, and is not reminded of the flux of all things? Throw a stone into the stream, and the circles that propagate themselves are the beautiful type of all influence. By using the image of a river, Emerson is creating another element for the reader to remember the logic of how spirit is connected to nature, as well as stirring up a more emotional response. Lastly, the author conveys his last point, that nature is the symbol of spirit, using figurative language and even using examples from another field of study. Emerson adds in the simile We are like travelers using the cinders of a volcano to roast their eggs to emphasize the enormity of language and how little of it people use, making the comparison even more extreme and allowing the reader to visualize this gap. Furthermore, he juxtaposes the axioms of physics to the laws of ethics as another example of how nature and spirit are connected. Thus his argument is complete.

Zhu 3 In this essay, Emerson uses a combination of logos and pathos appeals to convey how language, natural facts, spiritual facts and nature are ultimately intertwined.