Rowan University Views of Ralph Emerson Discussion

I’m working on a literature discussion question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

1. Read the following, using the links provided here or in the weekly module in Canvas:

• Read Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “American Scholar”
• Read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story “Young Goodman Brown”
• Read Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “Ligeia”
  • (scroll past The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym)
• Read Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee”

1. DQ 5. Create your initial post on the DQ 5 Discussion Board in response to the following:

• Would you say that Emerson’s critique of college education is still valid? Argue yes or no (or “yes/but”), giving examples from his speech and from your experience.

Return to the board over the weekend, and read the posts of your fellow classmates. You must respond to at least one classmate by posting a reply to his/her initial post. You might find a connection or have questions for classmates.

1. DQ 6. Create your initial post on the DQ 6 Discussion Board in response to the following:

• Choose either Poe or Hawthorne. How does each writer use/describe landscape (the forest, the castle tower room) to affect the reader? Describe and analyze the symbolic significance of the setting: what does it show us about the speaker and his state of mind?