Lucas Spelsberg (08/29): Ralph Waldo Emerson

I recently read Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay Nature and was particularly fascinated by the sections Commodity and Beauty. The trend that Emmerson identifies in these two sections which I found so interesting was how increasing urban populations and prioritization of work at the time had become detrimental to the soul. He begins the essay by stating "Let us demand our works and laws and worship" and goes on to write in the same opening paragraph that "Nature always wears the colors of the spirit. To a man laboring under calamity, the heat of his fire hath sadness in it." He seemed to believe that "country life" was the cure for the negative impacts that an "artificial and curtailed life of cities" had on the people. He states, "To the body and mind which have been cramped by noxious work or company, nature is medicinal and restores their tone. The tradesman, the attorney comes out of the din and craft of the street, and sees the sky and the woods, and is a man again". This seems to have become a reality in our modern day, and it is impressive to me that he was able to identify this issue so long ago. I think it is common for nature to wear a color of unimportance to many because of the amount of time that is spent laboring under calamity and prioritizing work while surrounded by suburban landscapes.

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