Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard--Having my say

I think it's interesting the value our culture puts on talented people over hardworking people. The stereotype is that people who are naturally talented (or smart or gifted or whatever) are prized more highly than people who actually built themselves via working hard for it. But, in comparison, I read an interesting piece somewhere about how highly ranked Presidents like Reagan and Lincoln are, who were working class people for much of their lives and don't have an Ivy League education, and are generally ranked higher than many Presidents who were born with a silver spoon in their mouthes. I know there are a whole bunch of exceptions but it still really seems that way, especially for such an elite group. You can see that in a lot of people too, a big difference in the mannerisms of people who recieved what they have versus the people who have had to earn what they have. You can really respect people for the work they have done. Just wanted to have my say.

Whitman poem reflection

The thing I really got from the poem was about how each little (or big) thing the boy encountered became part of him, he learned from it. He was built by the things he saw and felt and experienced, which is something we all should always be doing, like in the Scarlet Letter, gainig wisdom and knowledge through or lives and experiences and even sufferings.

She hasn't told her garden yet

I haven't told my garden yet --
Lest that should conquer me.
I haven't quite the strength now
To break it to the Bee --

I will not name it in the street
For shops would stare at me --
That one so shy -- so ignorant
Should have the face to die.

The hillsides must not know it --
Where I have rambled so --
Nor tell the loving forests
The day that I shall go --

Nor lisp it at the table --
Nor heedless by the way
Hint that within the Riddle
One will walk today --

When Emily writes here she is hinting toward her upcoming death,

 one of her favorite topics. It would only be natural for her to inform her garden,

 seeing as she was said to be a "gardener first and a poet second." 

She apparently spent a lot of time either working in or enjoying her garden,

 and amongst her fascination over death, she does not want her garden

 to know what will one day happen to her, as it has happened to those around her.

 Here she underlines both her fascination over death and its mystery 

and her love for all things nature, which would have brought welcome variety to her otherwise simple life. 

Transcendentalism over anti-Transcendentalism

I got a lot more out of the Transcendentalist writings. They seem to have a lot more hope and depth to them. As interesting as the anti-transcendentalist ideas are, the connections to nature and hope and life itself are much stronger and we can see a point to it all. Walden, especially, is not a wallow in doubt and self pity, it is about the honesty and beauty and strength shone to us by the world, and allow us to see deeper into nature and into life itself, and more importantly, learn from it. The transcendentalists teach us to look at our lives in perspective and hope and enjoy life, not fear it or waste it. They seem to have faith, whether in God or human nature or nature itself. The anti transcendentalists are in denial.