Emerson and the History of Rhetoric

Much has been written about Ralph Waldo Emerson’s fundamental contributions to American literature and culture as an essayist, philosopher, lecturer, and poet. However, despite wide agreement among literary and rhetorical scholars on the need for further study of Emerson as a rhetorical theorist, not much has been published on the subject. Emerson and the History of Rhetoric fills this gap in our knowledge, reenvisioning Emerson’s work through his significant engagement with rhetorical theory throughout his career and providing a more profound understanding of Emerson’s influence on American ideology. Moving beyond dominant literary critical thinking about Emerson’s public speaking by discussing it in the context of rhetorical history, Thompson argues that for Emerson, rhetoric was both imaginative and nonsystematic. The book covers the influences of rhetoricians from a range of periods on Emerson’s model of rhetoric, including Plato, Augustine, Edmund Burke, and Hugh Blair. Thompson analyzes Emerson’s application of Plato’s search for transcendental truth and democratic access to the means of persuasion; the Ciceronian rhetoric of Edmund Burke, which Emerson conceived as the perfect balance between common and aristocratic speech; and Augustine’s idea of submission.

Drawing on Emerson’s manuscript notes, journal entries, and some of his rarely discussed essays and lectures as well as his more famous works, the author demonstrates not only Emerson’s relevance to rhetorical history but also rhetorical history’s relevance to Emerson and nineteenth-century American literature and culture. This book bridges the divide between literary and rhetorical studies, expanding our understanding of this iconic nineteenth-century man of letters.