IV. Reading Comprehension (10%, 2 for each) Despite their many differences of temperament and of literary perspective, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, and
Whitman share certain beliefs. Common to all these writers is their humanistic perspective. Its basic premises are that humans
are the spiritual center of the universe and that in them alone is the clue of the nature, history and ultimately the cosmos itself.
Without denying outright the existence either of a deity or of brute matter, this perspective nevertheless rejects them as
exclusive principles of interpretation and prefers to explain humans and the world in terms of humanity itself. This preference is
expressed most clearly in the Transcendentalist principle that the structure of the universe literally duplicates the structure of
the individual self; therefore, all knowledge begins with self-knowledge. This common perspective is almost always
universalized. Its emphasis is not upon the individual as a particular European or American, but upon the human as universal,
freed from the accidents of time, space, birth and talent. Thus, for Emerson, the "American Scholar” turns out to be simply
"Main Thinking” while for Whitman, the "Song of Myself” merges imperceptibly into a song of all the "children of Adam,"
where "every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.” Also common to all five writers is the belief that individual virtue
and happiness depends upon the self-realization, which, in turn, depends upon the harmonious reconciliation of two universal
psychological tendencies: first, the self-asserting impulse of the individual to withdraw, to remain unique and separate, and to
be responsible only to himself or herself, and second, the self-transcending impulse of the individual to embrace the whole
world in the experience of a single moment and to know and become one with that world. These conflicting impulses can be
seen in the democratic ethic. Democracy advocates individualism, the preservation of the individual's freedom and
self-expression. But the democratic self is torn between the duty to self, which is implied by the concept of liberty, and the duty
to society, which is implied by the concept of equality and fraternity. A third assumption common to the five writers is that
intuition and imagination offer a surer road to truth than abstract logic or scientific method. It is illustrated by their emphasis
upon the introspection—their belief that the clue to external nature is to be found in the inner world of individual psychology
and by their interpretation of experience as in essence, symbolic. Both these stresses presume an organic relationship between
the self and the cosmos of which only intuition and imagination can properly take account. These writers' faith in the
imagination and in themselves as practitioners of imagination led them to view the writer as a seer and enabled them to achieve
supreme confidence in their own moral and metaphysical insights.
【題組】1. The author's discussion of Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman is primarily concerned with explaining
__________.
(A)some of their beliefs about the difficulties involved in self-realization
(B)some of their beliefs concerning the world and the place that humanity occupies in the universal order
(C)some of their beliefs concerning the relationship between humanism and democracy
(D)some of their beliefs are shaped by differences in temperament and literary outlook