Brief Questions The American Scholar

Answer

Brief Questions: The American Scholar 

• In which form was “The American Scholar” first delivered?

Ans: It was first delivered as a public lecture.

• Where and when was “The American Scholar” delivered?

Ans: It was delivered at Harvard College to the Phi Beta Kappa Society on August 31, 1837.

• What philosophy does the essay embody?

Ans: It expresses Emerson’s idea of what an American scholar should be — a complete “One Man” with various duties.

• What does Emerson mean by “the sere remains of foreign harvests”?

Ans: He means the worn-out knowledge borrowed from Europe.

• What does Emerson compare American poetry with?

Ans: He compares it with Vega, a bright star that will shine in American literature for ages.

• What is the concept of One Man derived from?

Ans: It is derived from an old fable about the gods dividing one man into many.

• What happens in a divided social state?

Ans: The duties of different professions are divided among individuals.

• What happens to a tradesman in such a society?

Ans: He becomes a slave to money and routine work.

• What is a scholar in a degenerate society?

Ans: He becomes a mere imitator or the parrot of others’ thinking.

• What is the root of both Nature and the human mind?

Ans: The soul is the common root of both.

• How does “Man Thinking” differ from a bookworm?

Ans: A bookworm copies old ideas, but “Man Thinking” creates new ones for his time.

• Why is the pleasure from books remarkable?

Ans: Because books make us feel that one nature writes and the same nature reads.

• What is the traditional view of a scholar?

Ans: He is seen as a weak, inactive recluse, unfit for real work.