Emerson's Nature as an Early Manifestation of the Biological Sublime

Ralph Waldo Emerson's first essay, Nature, has been viewed as a reconciliation of the world of nature with the world of mind. A close analysis shows that Emerson was in fact attempting to come to terms with human fragility in a unique way by delineating the point at which the worldly and the transcendental are demarcated. Because nature as we normally apprehend it merely displays a physical remainder, an alternative way of coping with grief is to change the very way we apprehend nature itself. Moreover, the way forward is not merely to change our perceptions, but truly to conform ourselves with the natural workings of the universe in a manner that has been forgotten, obliterated or never even previously conceived. In short, Nature can be reconsidered as an early example of the biological sublime.