With humor in mind: "C. P. Cranch’s Very Literal Illustrations of Emerson’s Nature (ca. 1837–39)"

A recommended article from "The Public Domain Review"

My previous post on this page was about humor as a mark of healthy-minded spirituality. Somewhat relatedly, I came across an article today in The Public Domain Review (always a delight for the eyes and the intellect) that in turn, I’m recommending to you. It’s all about the sketches that C. P. Cranch drew both as a parody of and as a homage to Emerson’s luminous essay, “Nature.” You can read the article by clicking here, and in it, you will find a whole gallery of Cranch’s Emersonian cartoons. Terribly fond of the Transcendentalists of Concord as I am (and of Emerson and Thoreau, in particular), I’m always happy for any excuse to draw attention to them. Sometimes wrongly viewed at a distance as being rather dour and straitlaced, the reality is that the Transcendentalists were, on the whole, a happy, humorous, and warm-blooded group of eccentric personalities. And Cranch’s drawings make that fact charmingly evident.