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Hudnut, Robert K.

Aesthetics of Ralph Waldo Emerson the Materials and Methods of His Poetry
1996 0-7734-8817-0
Examines Emerson's aesthetic as a metaphysical poem about two things: the human act of creation, and the divine. In the transcendental frame of reference, an aesthetic becomes basically a religion and not a philosophy. This study constructs a deductive framework from Emerson's writings, which works from the ground upward toward the Emersonian ideas on art: the "Materials" of Art must be considered before the "Method" of Art, and from these is created a philosophical-theological mold. It particularly examines Emerson's indebtedness to Coleridge, and also mentions earlier influences on both of them, such as Kant, Fichte, Plotinus, Plato, et al.