Today in class we began by reading and annotating George Washington's Farewell Address (AR 71). We then did a short in-class piece of writing about the warnings and advice he offers within the address. This writing was turned in. After the break we had a brief discussion on how George Washington might offer advice in 2014, considering what he said about foreign relations and political parties. We closed the discussion by looking at what he said about the role of religion in government which led to a series of notebook responses about religion. These included: What is religion? How is would you define it? What role does religion play for you personally (private response)? What are the challenges or conflicts that are related to notions of religion?
We closed by starting our look at Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Divinity School Address" (Self-Reliance and Other Essays 103).
The first question posed was; what type of imagery exists in his first paragraph?
Then notice the turn to philosophical questions in the 2nd paragraph; What am I? What is?
Next, consider what "virtue" means in the 3rd paragraph and how that could be more beautiful than the images that he had listed in the 1st paragraph.
Then, we read paragraphs 4, 5, and 6 on our own and had a short discussion.
Finish reading the essay for hw. Journal should focus on pages 113-115 and respond to this: What is Emerson asserting in these pages and what do you think about those ideas?
