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Emerson’s Appropriation of Wordsworth’s Romantic View of Language

&nbsp;&nbsp;Emerson&quot;s idea of language is strongly influenced by Wordsworth&quot;s. Like Wordsworth, he believed in the redemptive power of language in the age of revolution and industrialization. Emerson also believed in the possibility of achieving universality through language, even if it is always subject to fluctuations and arbitrariness. Emerson&quot;s view of language is, however, typically American in that he represents a more optimistic view of history than his English counterpart and attempts to substitute nature fer temporality, His idea of language as a symbol is also based on a more optimistic and religious interpretation of language than that of Wordsworth&quot;s. He adds another category, "Spirit," to the Wordsworthian three core categories of language, cognition, and world, This reflects his characteristically American interest in the cause of the transaction among the three categories.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;Emerson was also concerned with communication with the reader, emphasizing the reader&quot;s active role in the meaning process. He supposed an ideal reader, "One Man," like Wordsworth&quot;s "Man," and was convinced salvation required our being allowed to experience the reality of being "One Man" for the duration of the reading. As a postcolonial intellect, Emerson was eager to create national literature and to enrich the native culture with various sources from the trans-Atlantic or Anglo-American cultural circuit However, he avowedly denied the influence of European Romanticism. His idea of language makes us view language not as an arbitrary medium of communication but as complex dynamics where text and context interact, and diverse powers and ideologies compete with each other.