Ralph Waldo Emerson
- This is a preview of the essay.
To view the full text you must login!
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The rounded world is fair to see
Nine times folded in mystery:
Though baffled seers cannot impart
The secret of its laboring heart,
Throb thine with Nature's throbbing breast,
And all is clear from east to west.
Spirit that lurks each form within
Beckons to spirit of its kin;
Self-kindled every atom glows,
And hints the future which it owes."
In many poems and essays, such as this one, Emerson brings attention to the fact that answers to the world are to be found in nature. He expresses his disappointment in society for their lack of perception, for only "few adult persons can see nature." He calls the people of our time "retrospective," meaning that society has little knowledge of the future and are fearsome of what to do, so as a whole we look to our past and motion as our ancestors did. "How is it people manage to live on, --so aimless as they are?" Emerson pushed for people not to live in the shadows of the past, but to develop from the shoulders of giants and create an original relationship with the universe, because "the sun shines to-day also."
Emerson was a man who was able to look at his societal environment and see the flaws in people as a whole. He discusses how the growing populations in the city are becoming "godless and materializedno bond, no fellow-feeling, no enthusiasm." He also takes into consideration religion and is left feeling that it has lost its credibility to man, due to the "divorce between religion and morality...