17 Feb 2015). Transcendentalists celebrated the self, individualism, consciousness, and Neoplatonism, which stems from a Puritan tradition (Ruland 118). First published in 1841 in Essays, Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” is a radical piece of literature which showcases his views about the individual in society. In this essay, Emerson expresses “a central doctrine: divinity [existing] intimately in each natural fact, [and] in each individual self” (Ruland 120). Emerson proposes that society seeks conformity…
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