1. Emerson, Thoreau, and the Nature of Metonymy
... . Man is not planetary--but neither is the globe itself. "This is the frost coming out of the ground; this is Spring": the various associations and signs of spring include the language of the passage and the very title of the chapter within the book--this also is "Spring." (49) I take seriously the writer's understanding that his very language--the figure of "sand foliage," the leaves of his book, the author's own name--is itself organic and material, like ... Humboldt and Romantic science that inspired Thoreau to "conceive of words biologically" and understand language as a living organ...
- Word Count: 9971
- Approx Pages: 40
- Grade Level: Undergraduate