The intention of this study is to explore the application of rhetoric in The American Scholar which is a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson at the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College. The lecture of Emerson entitled The American Scholar is the announcement of American culture，which calls American scholars to keep spiritual independence and perfectness from three aspects: nature，books and action，and explores how to realize the social responsibility by “man thinking”．Meanwhile, Emerson also expounds the relationship between American culture and European culture. Through analyzing the use of two kinds of rhetorical devices comparison and quotation in the speech, this paper analyzes Emerson's cognition of and appeal for the establishment of the American independent cultural system, which may inspire our reflections on the problem which Chinese contemporary scholars are faced with．

So far, most of the studies have been carried out from the aspects of Emerson's individualism and American culture, scholars and cultural confidence, Emerson's American culture and Confucianism, and so on. Nevertheless, there are very few researches on the application of rhetoric in The American Scholars at home and abroad. Only one article called “ ‘The American Scholar ‘的修辞手法简析” which is written by YaoLei is found in the domestic journal. Moreover, this article only analyzes the role of rhetoric in the structure of the article, and its impact on the content of the article is not mentioned. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Emerson's contribution to and influence on American independent culture from a new perspective.

In today's world, the cultures of all countries, including China, face the challenges of globalization. How to deal with the strong impact of foreign culture and maintain and promote the vitality of native culture is an issue that Chinese scholars need to face urgently. Emerson's "The American Scholar" and its "Self-Reliance" doctrine can give us some enlightenment for keeping our cultural confidence.

First, Emerson's educational philosophy is intended to train scholars to be individuals with individuality, responsibility, self-confidence, and independence, and those who complete self-development and achieve self-worth. Emerson's "people-oriented" education philosophy, even today, still maintains his forward-looking. It has certain enlightenment and reference for China's educational thoughts and ideas. Second, studying Emerson's "people-oriented" educational philosophy has certain help for China's educational prospects. Taking people-oriented as the new basic concept and value orientation of China's education, we will cultivate innovative talents with comprehensive and comprehensive qualities. From the perspective of human nature and the level of development to understand and develop education, China's education has broad prospects. Third, Emerson's transcendentalism and his "American Scholars" awakened the independence and creative enthusiasm of American scholars, followed by a large number of colorful romantic literatures, which set off a vigorous Renaissance movement. Drawing on Emerson's "people-oriented" thinking, Chinese scholars can firmly establish a sense of literary innovation and a firm humanistic cultural concept. And they can disseminate positive energy works to the general public and enhance China's cultural standards to shoulder the great mission of the Chinese Renaissance.

Through the interpretation of Emerson and American scholars' texts, this article deeply sighs Emerson's views on cultural independence by analyzing of two methods of comparison and quotation, and tries to reveal the academic emotions expressed by Emerson and its current significance.

This paper mainly focuses on the use of two rhetorical devices of the comparison and quotation in the speech to analyze Emerson's cognition and appeal for the establishment of the American independent cultural system to reveal the importance of cultural independence. This article includes five chapters. The first chapter is the introduction of the writer's work and literature review. The second chapter is contrast between European culture and American culture in American scholars.. The third chapter is the comparison between the European culture and American culture in The American Scholars. The fourth chapter is an analysis of the citation used in The American Scholars，emphasizing the importance of cultural independence by citing other scholars' cognition of culture. The fifth chapter is the conclusion, including the summary, limitations and further study of this paper. By analyzing the role of rhetoric in the content structure, we can more deeply understand Emerson's cultural independence and provide reliable support for the development of contemporary Chinese culture.

This paper intends to use the two methods of literature and comparative research to analyze the central arguments in The American Scholars. At the same time, there may be some problems in conducting this research. For example, collecting information is very difficult. Because the research direction of this paper is inconsistent with the research problems at home and abroad, it is difficult to collect relevant data.

[1] Emily Dumler-Winckler, Romanticism as Modern Re-Enchantment: Burke, Kant, and Emerson on Religious Taste[J], Journal for the History of Modern Theology / Zeitschrift für Neuere Theologiegeschichte. 2015(1)

[2] Emile Lester. Education, religion, and deliberative democracy[J]. Journal of Curriculum Studies. 2006(3)

[3] Emile Lester, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Teaching About Religion in American History[J]. Religion amp; Education. 2016(3)

[4] Irving Howe. The American Newness: Culture and Politic in the Age of Emerson[M], Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986:22

[5] John Hansen, “The New American Scholar.” [C] The Pluralist 2014(9.1): 97-103.

[6] Richard Hofstadter, The Pseudo-Conservative Revolt [J], the winter 1954-55 issue of The Scholar, 2006

[7]Robinson woodward-Burns, Solitude Before Society: Emerson on Self-Reliance, Abolitionism, and Moral Suasion, Polity, 2016, Vol.48 (1), pp.29-54

[8] 姜原,郭峰,跨越大西洋的思想传递:从浪漫主义到超验主义[J],文学教育(下). 2018(01)

[9] 刘珠凤, 学者与文化——析爱默生的《美国学者》[A],洛阳师范学院学报，2015

[10] 马丽媛,爱默生思想中的东方元素新探[D].北京外国语大学 2016

[11] 欧阳娇，浅析爱默生《美国学者》中的学者情怀[J], 2014(2)

[12] 任昕，爱默生：美国的孔子[N]，光明日报，2015（012）

[13] 姚蕾,“The American Scholar”的修辞手法的简析[A],广西大学学报，2006

[14] 杨靖,《美国学者》与文化自信[N],外国文艺，文艺报，2016（006）

[15]张桂华， 格根塔娜, 爱默生“以人为本”思想起源及其现实意义——爱默生和他的《美国学者》[A], 内蒙古工业大学学报( 社会科学版),2013(1)