I’ve never been able to easily start a paper, and concluding them has often eluded me as well. Emerson’s essays never seem concerned with such formalities—it always reads like Emerson just lets himself write whatever comes to mind, letting his thoughts make associations that he somehow relates back to his original point. Whenever I try such “free-writing,” the result seems too unorganized to be a real paper. It’s true, Emerson’s essays probably wouldn’t pass in an introductory college English course, but maybe that’s something we should consider. Does an essay really need to be so structured as long as some idea is conveyed? Emerson may lack organization, but his essays do make you think, and I think that an essay is successful when that is achieved.
Self-Reflection
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I agree that ‘association’ is a key for Emerson. I wonder how that works for you–if that is part of what you mean by free-writing. Emerson’s associations, as we have seen, are free but also focused. Is that the case for you? I would like to hear more about that.