Ralph Waldo Emerson

By Isabelle Ouellette

• Born May 25, 1803 in the Puritan New England town of Boston, Massachusetts. Died April 27, 1882 (aged 78)

• American essayist, philosopher and poet

• Lead the Transcendentalist

movement in the mid 19th

century.

• Influenced by

German

philosophy and

Biblical criticism.

Borrowing from the French

SOME of the hurts you have curedAnd the sharpest you still have

survivedBut what torments of grief you endured

From evils which never arrived!

Threnody

The south-wind bringsLife, sunshine, and desire,

And on every mount and meadowBreathes aromatic fire,

But over the dead has no power,The lost, the lost he cannot restore,And, looking over the hills, I mourn

The darling who shall not return.

I see my empty house,I see my trees repair their boughs,

And he, - the wondrous child,Whose silver warble wild

Out valued every pulsing soundWithin the air’s cerulean round,The hyacinthine boy, for whom

Morn well might break, and April bloom,The gracious boy, who did adorn

The world whereinto he was born,And by his countenance repay

The favor of the loving day,

TactWhat boots it, thy virtue,

What profit thy parts,While one thing thou lackest,

The art of all arts!The only credentials,Passport to success,

Opens castle and parlor,-Address, man, Address.

The maiden in dangerWas saved by the swain,

His stout arm restored herTo broadway again:

The maid would reward him, -Gay company come, -

They laugh, she laughs with them,He is moonstruck and dumb.

This clenches the bargain,Sails out of the bay,

Gets the vote in the Senate,Spite of Webster and Clay;

Has for genius no mercy,For speeches no heed, -It lurks in the eyebeam,

It leaps to its deed.

Church, tavern, and market,Bed and board it will sway;

It has no to-morrow,It ends with to-day.

The Rhodora

On Being Asked, Whence Is The Flower?

In May, When sea-winds pierced our solitudes,I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,

Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,To please the desert and the sluggish brook.

The purple petals, fallen in the pool,Made the black water with their beauty gay;

Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,And court the flower that cheapens his array.

Rhodora! If the sages ask thee whyThis charm is wasted on the earth and sky,

Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,Then beauty is its own excuse for being:Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!

I knew thought to ask, I never knew:But, in my simple ignorance, suppose

The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.

Poem Analysis

Rhodora is a purple flower that grows on a shrub.

Whence does not mean ‘when’ but on the contrary of ‘what place’, ‘its origin or source’. Making the poem asks where the flower (Rhodora) comes from and what importance an ordinary flowering shrub has.

There is a lot of symbolism used in the poem. Especially with Rhodora being a symbol of nature in its existence. The Rhodora is also described as infinity beauty being man-made. The ‘black water’ and the ‘red bird’ being used to show how much beauty the Rhodora has and how everything else just seems dull next to it.

Personification is used to add with the imagery of the flower giving the reader an appreciation to the flower and its beauty it has over everything else.

Rhythm is used throughout the poem in the text to help with the flow.

The theme is depicted in the poem is ‘beauty’

1. Do you believe Ralph Waldo Emerson poem is a good example of Transcendentalism?

2. Does the poem bring a certain beauty to the world around you that you have never thought of before?

3. Does Ralph Waldo Emerson do the flower; Rhodora any justice? (if you have ever seen one)

Biography

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson

• http://www.online-literature.com/emerson/

• http://www.emersoncentral.com/poems/tact.htm