Self-Reliance Group
Question:
What connection between nature and people does Emerson make in "Self-Reliance"?
Answers:
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eNotes Editor
Posted by kwoo1213 on Friday April 11, 2008 at 10:05 AMTo Emerson, nature is the purest form of innocence and truth, in many ways. He implies that humankind should be ashamed to stand in nature because of their OWN corrupt natures. He even goes to far to remark that people have become so timid about being true to themselves that they are "ashamed before the blade of grass or the blowing rose" (enotes). Emerson uses many references to nature when appealing to readers' emotions, as well, as in this example: Among the more effective techniques here is the use of images from nature: "My book should smell of pines and resound with the hum of insects’’ and, ‘‘before a leaf-bud has burst, its whole life acts; in the full-blown flower there is no more; in the leafless root there is no less" (enotes).

