Published in 1837, Ralph Waldo Emerson's The American Scholar examines nature as an important "influence(s) on the mind" (515). By 1837, the United States had enjoyed sixty years of independence and was beginning to establish a culture and identity separate from that of Europe. With Emerson at the helm, the Transcendentalist movement became a literary component of this new identity in the early 19th century. According to Emerson, nature contributes to the development of the typically American intellectual by fostering self-knowledge in him, thus countering the colonial vision of wild nature as wicked. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In Respecting Nature, the reader can examine a notable shift in tone between early American texts and Emerson's work. While earlier writings such as William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation and Mary Rowlandson's tale of captivity contain a sad view of nature, The American Scholar employs a more delightful and idealistic tone. Emerson's writing seems to be full of hope for a bright and promising American future. Emerson states that understanding and appreciating the natural world is essential for young American scholars because of the relationship between the laws of nature and “the law of the human mind” (515). Like his contemporaries, Emerson saw nature as an endless, cyclical representation of God's “own spirit” (515) and his intrinsic goodness. By extension, Emerson states that scholars should strive to appreciate nature as the physical counterpart of the human soul meant to “answer part for part” (516). This philosophy departs from the writings of early settlers, who saw the wild American landscape as a literal manifestation of hell. Emerson and the Transcendentalists viewed the landscape itself as evidence of a divine creator, of his benevolence, as well as evidence that the same spirit of goodness resides in all humanity. Thus, since earlier writers argued that the wilderness was abysmal, profane, and totally isolated from the Creator, Emerson paints it as a place of sameness with God “whereby contrary and remote things coexist” (515). In other words, everything is connected. From the author's point of view, a scholar can never truly understand himself without understanding nature. Fittingly, the opposing views on nature and the American landscape provide a framework for better understanding the soul of the country itself. It is likely that Emerson's philosophy was an outgrowth of American philosophy. cultural prize on freedom and independence. The United States was born out of a spirit of revolution and rebellion. As we examine the shift in literary views on nature exemplified in The American Scholar, we begin to see a symbolic reflection of the above principles. We see the change begin to take place as early as 1780 in Thomas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia. Jefferson, a man who for many embodies the revolutionary spirit, can be seen as an early proponent of the vision of nature that Emerson would later consolidate. In his essay, he marvels at the Natural Bridge as “the most sublime of Nature's works” (Jefferson 277). Himself a scholar, Jefferson and his text are symbolic of the deviation from Puritan views. The Puritans and other colonial settlers were still very attached to Britain. Puritan descriptions of a “vast and howling wilderness” (Rowlandson 131) “full of wild beasts and wild men” (Bradford 83) represent the Old World philosophy brought from Britain. Al.