Answer: The essay “The American Scholar” is one of the best by Emerson, and has a lofty position in world literature, by virtue of its novel ideas and excellent literary qualities. It was perhaps for the first time in American literary history that the idea of One Man was propounded in which thought and action are combined, and in that combination, action is given more importance. The American Scholar is one who is the embodiment of this new philosophy of a man, and he is to bring about the American Revolution which promises a break away from the shackles of European thoughts and should be the torch-bearer of the civilization for the next millennium. The ideas are presented in a style that makes his lofty prose verge on the poetic.

Emerson delivered “The American Scholar” as a lecture on the 31st of August, 1837, to “Phi Beta Kappa”, a literary society of Harvard University in America. Thematically the essay can be divided into two parts. In the first part, the author talks about the influences on the American Scholar in respect of his education – the influences of Nature, books, and of action. The second part discusses Emerson’s view of the duties of the American Scholar and evaluates the state of affairs prevailing at the time, with a prophecy of the great future for America.

Books exert great influence upon the mind of the people, especially upon the mind of the scholar. The scholar of the first age studied the world around him, imposed his own thoughts upon it, and formed his own philosophy that may be called truth. But the amount of the validity of the truth depended upon the depth of the mind from which it came.

But although books contain truths that are the essence of the knowledge of the scholar of one generation, they cannot hold truths for all generations. At best books of one generation can be relevant for the next generation. Even the accepted master-minds of the past like Cicero, Locke, and Bacon may not be acceptable to the present generation. Books of the past are accepted as immutable truths only by the sluggish minds, by the bookworms, not by the American scholar or the Man Thinking.

If books are rightly used they are the best of things. If, on the contrary, they are abused, they are among the worst. The right way of using books is that must be subordinated to the main function of Man Thinking.

The influences of Nature upon the American Scholar are of the first and foremost importance. He studies the phenomena of Nature and realizes that there is never a beginning, never an end to the inexplicable continuity of the web of God. Books also exert influence upon the American Scholar, but he should not blindly follow the books of the past, however great they may be. The American Scholar should be a Man Thinking, so he should read books for inspiration of new ideas, not follow them slavishly. He should accept the best ideas of books, and reject the others. One indispensable reading for him is history and exact science, which will give ideas with which he can set the hearts of the youth on flame.

The American Scholar is not a recluse, but a man of action. Without action, he is not yet a man. Action provides the transition of thought from the unconscious to the conscious. Fit action gives the richest wisdom. It is a resource for wisdom.

A scholar must be a man of action. Action may have secondary importance for him, but it is essential. Without action, the scholar is not yet a man. Without action, his thoughts can never ripen into truth. Inaction or inactivity is a sign of cowardice, but there can be no true scholar without a heroic mind. The true scholar never misses an opportunity for action. To him, every opportunity of action that is lost means a loss of power. Action is the raw material out of which the intellect molds its splendid products. He who devotes his total strength to action obtains riches in return for wisdom. The scholar must be cager to perform actions, for actions are the sources of vocabulary he needs, Action is a kind of diction. Action and events of childhood are the raw materials for future creation.

The American Scholar should have full confidence in himself and never heed popular opinions. His self-trust includes all other virtues. He should go on observing men and life around him. He should add patiently observation to observation without caring for the view of the multitudes, and success is sure to come to him in the long run. In understanding his own mind, he would understand all minds and thus would be the lord and master of those he has to deal with: People will then listen to him and find that he has expressed their innermost thoughts and sentiments, This would give him power over the hearts and minds of men, and they would listen to him and be guided by him. This is the secret to the success of great poets and orators: Sell-confidence and conviction are the keys to success in every sphere of life.

The scholar should be free and brave. He should not tolerate any hindrances except those which arise from within himself. He should be brave because fear is a thing that a scholar by his very definition puts behind him. The scholar must have so much confidence in himself as to be able to influence the world with his ideas and free others from fear.

The duties of an American Scholar are manifold. He should cheer, raise and guide men by showing them facts amidst appearances. He is the world’s eye and heart. He resists the vulgar prosperity that retrogrades ever to barbarism. He should have self-confidence, should be free and brave. He should face dangers like a brave man, not flee from them. He should spread the idea of one man. One Man comprehends the particular natures of all men. It pours itself out into all men and grows larger and larger. It is one light that beams out of a thousand stars.

The American Scholar is to bring about the revolution. The low, the ordinary, and the common should be raised to the status of the high, the noble, and the uncommon. The American Scholar should embrace the common and explore the familiar, take up all the abilities of the time, all the contributions of the past, and all the hopes of the future. If the scholar performs such functions America will be a nation of men who will exist for the first time, and each individual will believe himself inspired by the Divine Soul which inspires all men.

The essay is presented in a style that is characteristic of Emerson. Some critics have found fault with his style, especially in respect of the organization and structure of his essays. But they are not serious enough to delve deep into the matter of his literary qualities. Emerson’s thoughts are lofty and expansive, but he has tried to compress them within a short space. As such, his sentences have become aphoristic and epigrammatic, much like Bacon’s. The links between sentences are very often provided not by normal cohesive devices, but by sequencing of ideas. To shallow readers, they might appear unlinked and incoherent. But they are coherent at a deeper level: by means of the concatenation of ideas. Besides, he has made effective use of rhetorical figures, allusions, imagery, and symbol. To a serious reader, he is a writer of the highest literary qualities.