essays and english traits

English Traits by Ralph Waldo Emerson: Uncover Cultural Insights & Observations

• English Traits ›

First Visit to England

On looking over the diary of my journey in 1833, I find nothing to publish in my memoranda of visits to places. But I have copied the few notes I made of visits to persons, as they respect parties quite too good and too transparent to the whole world to make it needful to affect any prudery of suppression about a few hints of those bright personalities.

Voyage to England

I did not go very willingly. I am not a good traveller, nor have I found that long journeys yield a fair share of reasonable hours. But the invitation was repeated and pressed at a moment of more leisure, and when I was a little spent by some unusual studies.

Alfieri thought Italy and England the only countries worth living in; the former, because there nature vindicates her rights, and triumphs over the evils inflicted by the governments; the latter, because art conquers nature, and transforms a rude, ungenial land into a paradise of comfort and plenty.

An ingenious anatomist has written a book to prove that races are imperishable, but nations are pliant political constructions, easily changed or destroyed.

The Saxon and the Northman are both Scandinavians. History does not allow us to fix the limits of the application of these names with any accuracy; but from the residence of a portion of these people in France, and from some effect of that powerful soil on their blood and manners

I find the Englishman to be him of all men who stands firmest in his shoes. They have in themselves what they value in their horses, mettle and bottom. On the day of my arrival at Liverpool.

The Teutonic tribes have a national singleness of heart, which contrasts with the Latin races. The German name has a proverbial significance of sincerity and honest meaning. The arts bear testimony to it. The faces of clergy and laity in old sculptures and illuminated missals are charged with earnest belief.

The English race are reputed morose. I do not know that they have sadder brows than their neighbors of northern climates. They are sad by comparison with the singing and dancing nations: not sadder, but slow and staid, as finding their joys at home. They, too, believe that where there is no enjoyment of life, there can be no vigor and art in speech or thought.

The English are a nation of humorists. Individual right is pushed to the uttermost bound compatible with public order. Property is so perfect, that it seems the craft of that race, and not to exist elsewhere. The king cannot step on an acre which the peasant refuses to sell.

There is no country in which so absolute a homage is paid to wealth. In America, there is a touch of shame when a man exhibits the evidences of large property, as if, after all, it needed apology. But the Englishman has pure pride in his wealth, and esteems it a final certificate.

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Category V – English Traits

English Traits was published first in 1856 and is different from the rest of Emerson’s works in that rather than concerning the inner life and Emerson’s major themes of self-recovery and self-reliance, the book is about a country and its people. It praises England and its people while also pointing out limitations and failures. He admires the English most of all for their common sense. As he wrote, "An Englishman must be treated with sincerity and reality; with muffins and not the promise of muffins."    

• V - English Traits

Vol V – English Traits(1856)

   I First Visit to England  II Voyage to England  III Land  IV Race  V Ability  VI Manners  VII Truth  VIII Character  IX Cockayne  X Wealth  XI Aristocracy  XII Universities  XIII Religion  XIV Literature  XV The “Times”  XVI Stonehenge  XVII…

• Administrator
• January 23, 2005
• Complete Works of RWE , V - English Traits

Chapter XIX Speech at Manchester

  A few days after my arrival at Manchester, in November, 1847, the Manchester Athenaeum gave its annual Banquet in the Free-Trade Hall. With other guests, I was invited to be present, and to address the company. In looking over…

• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• December 19, 2004

Chapter XVIII Result

  England is the best of actual nations. It is no ideal framework, it is an old pile built in different ages, with repairs, additions, and makeshifts; but you see the poor best you have got. London is the epitome…

Chapter XVII Personal

  In these comments on an old journey now revised after seven busy yearse much changed men and things in England, I have abstained from reference to persons, except in the last chapter, and in one or two cases where…

Chapter XVI Stonehenge

  It had been agreed between my friend Mr. C* and me, that before I left England, we should make an excursion together to Stonehenge, which neither of us had seen; and the project pleased my fancy with the double…

Chapter XV The “Times”

  The power of the newspaper is familiar in America, and in accordance with our political system. In England, it stands in antagonism with the feudal institutions, and it is all the more beneficent succor against the secretive tendencies of…

Chapter XIV Literature

  A strong common sense, which it is not easy to unseat or disturb, marks the English mind for a thousand years: a rude strength newly applied to thought, as of sailors and soldiers who had lately learned to read.…

Chapter XIII Religion

No people, at the present day, can be explained by their national religion. They do not feel responsible for it; it lies far outside of them. Their loyalty to truth, and their labor and expenditure rest on real foundations, and…

Chapter XII Universities

Of British universities, Cambridge has the most illustrious names on its list. At the present day, too, it has the advantage of Oxford, counting in its _alumni_ a greater number of distinguished scholars. I regret that I had but a…

Chapter XI Aristocracy

The feudal character of the English state, now that it is getting obsolete, glares a little, in contrast with the democratic tendencies. The inequality of power and property shocks republican nerves. Palaces, halls, villas, walled parks, all over England, rival…

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The Harvard Classics, vol. 5: Essays and English Traits by R. W. Emerson

Explore the essays of major American writer and thinker, Ralph Waldo Emerson—a key player in the nineteenth-century literary “American Renaissance.” Gain deeper insight into Transcendentalist thought with some of Emerson’s most important works, and open a window onto the intellectual climate of New England during the mid-1800s. The spirit and ideas of Emerson’s teaching are aptly expressed in the works contained in this volume. Find famous essays such as Self Reliance , The Poet , and The Over-soul . Discover Nature , which expresses the philosophy of Transcendentalism, and examine The American Scholar , which Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. called America’s “Intellectual Declaration of Independence.”

This volume also includes English Traits , where Emerson writes of his travels, offering his observations about England. Follow Emerson throughout his illustrious career and learn more about his crucial role in the history of American thought and artistic life.

The Harvard Classics

Journey through “Dr. Eliot’s Five Foot Shelf.” This massive collection, designed to provide the elements of a liberal education, was compiled by distinguished Harvard University president Charles Eliot in the early 1900s. Packed with the essential works of the Western classical tradition, the Harvard Classics collection remains one of the most comprehensive and well-researched anthologies of all time—a must-have library for students and lovers of the classics.

Check out the complete The Harvard Classics and Fiction Collection . Keep reading with Harvard Classics, vol. 6 .

Key Features

• Over 35 essays from Transcendentalist thinker, Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Self-Reliance , The American Scholar , and other important works
• Fifth volume of the prominent Harvard Classics collection

Product Details

• Title: The Harvard Classics, vol. 5: Essays and English Traits by R.W. Emerson
• Author: Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Editor: Charles William Eliot
• Series: The Harvard Classics
• Publisher: P. F. Collier & Son

About Charles Eliot

Charles William Eliot (1834–1926) served as president of Harvard University for 40 years, helping to shape the struggling provincial college into a premier American research university. Eliot graduated from Harvard in 1853, and was appointed tutor in mathematics in 1854, before becoming assistant professor of mathematics and chemistry. Eliot left Harvard in 1863 and traveled in Europe for nearly two years, studying the educational systems of the Old World. He took an interest in every aspect of institutional operation, from curriculum and methods of instruction, to physical arrangements and custodial services. But his particular concern was with the relation between education and economic growth.

Returning home in 1865, Eliot accepted an appointment as professor of analytical chemistry at the newly-founded Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1869, he published a two-part article with his ideas about reforming American higher education in The Atlantic Monthly , catching the attention of Harvard businessmen trying to pull the university out of a crisis of short-term presidents and languishing curriculum. Eliot was quickly elected as the youngest president in Harvard’s history. Under his leadership, Harvard began to expand the range of courses offered, permitting undergraduates with unrestricted choice in selecting their courses of study. This enabled them to discover their “natural bents” and pursue them into specialized studies. The university soon became a center for advanced scientific and technological research. During his presidency, the university extended its facilities with laboratories, libraries, classrooms, and athletic facilities. Eliot was able to attract the support of major donors from among the nation’s growing plutocracy, making it the wealthiest private university in the world.

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Essays And English Traits

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Book Source: Digital Library of India Item 2015.205646

dc.contributor.author: Waldo, Ralph,emerson dc.date.accessioned: 2015-07-09T14:13:32Z dc.date.available: 2015-07-09T14:13:32Z dc.date.digitalpublicationdate: 2005-02-03 dc.date.citation: 1937 dc.identifier.barcode: 1040010074825 dc.identifier.origpath: /data_copy/upload/0074/830 dc.identifier.copyno: 1 dc.identifier.uri: http://www.new.dli.ernet.in/handle/2015/205646 dc.description.scannerno: 1 dc.description.scanningcentre: IISc, Bangalore dc.description.main: 1 dc.description.tagged: 0 dc.description.totalpages: 479 dc.format.mimetype: application/pdf dc.language.iso: English dc.publisher.digitalrepublisher: Svinfo dc.publisher: P.f.collier And Son Corporation dc.rights: Out_of_copyright dc.source.library: Jrd Tata Library,indian Institute Of Science,bangalore dc.subject.classification: Language.linguistics.literature dc.subject.classification: Literature dc.subject.classification: Literature dc.subject.keywords: Essays And English Traits dc.title: Essays And English Traits

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Essays and English Traits Hardcover – January 1, 1937

• Language English
• Publisher P F COLLIER & SON
• Publication date January 1, 1937
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Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B001P73R3O
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ P F COLLIER & SON; Reprint edition (January 1, 1937)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds

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