This essay examines the differences between William Wordsworth and Ralph Waldo Emerson in their understanding of the relationship between the poet and his readers. Whereas Wordsworth’s poetics is mainly concerned about how to maximize the possibility of sympathetic communication between the poet and the readers, Emerson’s poetics focuses primarily on the poet’s liberation from the imprisonment of the senses and conventions. This difference in their focus arises from their differing definitions of the self. Although Wordsworth’s intense interrogation of different aspects of his own consciousness evinces his awareness of the complicated structure and texture of what constitutes the self, he still thinks within the frame of the eighteenth-century assumption about the uniformity of human nature. On the other hand, vehemently opposed to any attempt to conform to accustomed values and patterns of living, Emerson rejects the eighteenth-century view that posits the common and uniform nature of human beings. For Emerson, nature is constantly in flux, and when one stops endeavoring to become one’s true self, one is cut off from the circuit of power one can tap into to be actualized. Emerson believes the poet’s liberation ultimately extends to his readers’ liberation, which is why he is relatively uninterested in the possibility of communication between the poet and the readers.
한국중앙영어영문학회 [The Jungang English Language And Literature Association Of Korea]
설립연도
1968
분야
인문학>영어와문학
소개
본 학회는 영미어문학의 학술연구와 이에 부합하는 아래의 사업을 기획 수행하며,
또한 회원 상호간의 친목을 도모함을 목적으로 한다.
1. 학회지 발간
2. 연구 발표회, 강연회, 공동연구
3. 영미어문학 관련 도서출판
4. 영미어문학 관계 도서 및 자료의 모집 및 비치
5. 기타 본회의 목적 달성에 필요한 사업
간행물
간행물명
영어영문학연구 [The Jungang Journal of English Language and Literature]