Emerson at first blush

When I bought my book on Emerson for this course (and knowing I would be seeing this material on my comps), I decided to go ahead and dip my toe in by reading "Nature." I found it, in places, completely opaque. If I read slowly enough, it makes sense, but I expect my reading to be coherent, and at times I couldn't tell if Emerson was jumping around or if I was just too dense to follow him. Today was our first class session, and I now feel a little less lost. I'm going to reread the essay knowing what I know now and see if it makes a difference.