Ralph Waldo Emerson: A Comparative Analysis

“If one cannot recognize the divinity in the prophets of other nations, then one cannot wholly realize the divinity of one’s own prophet,” is an adage. The function of a Comparative Literature is to analyse and appreciate the artistic values, and lasting impressions of different literary works in a broader spectrum. The benefits to be gained from cross-cultural or cross-national works involve deeper understanding of other cultures and enriching the process of research. In this analysis, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), an American essayist, orator, and poet, the exponent of Transcendentalist movement – represents the west, while Chinnaswami Subramanya Bharathi (1882–1921), an Indian Tamil Poet laureate, writer and journalist, a social reformer

As national and spiritual visionaries they foretold and campaigned for the dawn of a global humanistic and spiritual consciousness beyond sectarian traditions. Hence, both of them traverse the narrow limits of national and cultural borders and are celebrated internationally for their human values. This comparative analysis unravels the universal values attached to the (select) works of these literary

This philosophy of value shows interest in the fundamental problems of existence, and in finding the suitable answers to the human complexities. For ages, the Oriental philosophy was keen on seeking the answers within the human nature; while the western philosophy began its probe into the external objective world; which later, the Greek philosophy in particular, gradually turned its eyes on the ‘man’ himself. The shifting of interest from nature to man leads to the study of human mind, human knowledge, and of human values. Of these studies, attention was centered more particularly on values of ethics, and the chief question for philosophy of life became: what is the highest good, what is the end and aim of