Critical C ompanion TO

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Literary Reference to His Life and Work

Tiffany K. Wayne
184    Nature

Further Reading unspeakable miracle.” Thus Emerson was not the

Bosco, Ronald A. “His Lectures Were Poetry, His only or even the most original voice in this new
Teaching the Music of the Spheres: Annie Adams movement when he put forth the idea, as Ripley
Fields and Francis Greenwood Peabody on Emer- put it, that our “inward nature .€.€. is the source of
son’s ‘Natural History of the Intellect’ University more important and comprehensive ideas than any
Lectures at Harvard in 1870.” Harvard Library Bul- which the external senses suggest,” and that this
letin 8, no. 2 (Summer 1997): 1–79. inner voice within each individual is “the inspiring
Bosco, Ronald A., and Joel Myerson, eds. The Later voice of God.”
Lectures of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Athens: Univer- In 1836 Emerson found himself at a crossroads
sity of Georgia Press, 2001. in both his personal and his professional life. His
DeVoll, Matthew W. “Emerson and Dreams: Toward a first wife had died, he had resigned from the min-
Natural History of Intellect.” ATQ 18, no. 2 (June istry, and he had traveled to Europe, where he
2004): 69–87.
met such key thinkers of the era as Samuel Tay-
lor Coleridge and Thomas Carlyle. Emerson
Levin, Jonathan. The Poetics of Transition: Emerson,
had probably begun to compose Nature on his
Pragmatism, and American Literary Modernism. Dur-
ham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1999.
Robinson, David M. Emerson and the Conduct of Life:
Pragmatism and Ethical Purpose in the Later Work.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Michael Jonik

Nature╇ (1836)
Nature is probably the work most often associ-
ated with Ralph Waldo Emerson and American
Transcendentalism. Nature was published anony-
mously in 1836, the same year the Transcenden-
tal Club was formed and several other individuals
also published texts associated with the movement.
Orestes Brownson’s New Views of Christianity,
Society, and the Church, George Ripley’s Discourses
on the Philosophy of Religion; Addressed to Doubt-
ers Who Wish to Believe, Amos Bronson Alcott’s
Doctrine and Discipline of Human Culture, and Wil-
liam Henry Furness’s Remarks on the Four Gos-
pels were all examples of the “new thought,” which
questioned traditional religion and sought a more
authentic relationship to God. These Unitarian
writers turned to nature as an alternative source of
spiritual knowledge and came to remarkably similar
conclusions, such as Furness’s observation (in the
context of questioning whether Christ’s “miracles”
were supernatural events) that “the existence of Title page of Emerson’s first book, the anonymously
the merest atom, when we duly consider it, is an published Nature, 1836╇ (Concord Free Public Library)
 Nature    185

way home from this first trip abroad in 1833. By to ask which are unanswerable.” Knowledge begins
the time the book was published in 1836, he had with a firsthand experience of nature, which we
embarked upon a new career as a lecturer and a must then translate into some larger meaning: “He
writer. Although Emerson modestly explained to acts it as life, before he apprehends it as truth.”
Carlyle that he hoped Nature, with its critique of Our main question in life should be, “to what end
organized religion in favor of a direct spiritual rela- nature?” Thus, the “aim” of science and of life are
tionship with nature and with oneself, would at the same: self-knowledge. Emerson explains what
least be “an entering wedge .€.€. for something more he means by “nature”: “the universe is composed
worthy and significant,” Carlyle recognized it as sig- of Nature and the Soul. Strictly speaking, there-
nificant already, as “the Foundation and Ground- fore, all that is separate from us .€.€. nature and art,
plan” for all of Emerson’s thought. all other men and my own body, must be ranked
Even though it was then common practice to under this name, Nature.” So “nature” has two
publish books anonymously, the identity of the meanings, one “common” and one “philosophical,”
author became quickly known and the book sparked and he will explore both senses of the word.
discussion in Boston and beyond. Samuel Osgood
reviewed Nature positively for the Western Mes- 1. “Nature”
senger in the January 1837 issue, although he did
In the first chapter Emerson explains that a true or
take issue with Emerson’s idealism: “We are unable “original” relationship to nature requires not only
to perceive the bearing of the writer’s argument, in removing oneself from society but from our stud-
proof of Idealism, or to allow the advantage, which ies as well: “I am not solitary whilst I read and
he claims for his theory. All his arguments, it seems write, though nobody is with me. But if a man
to us, go to prove merely the superiority of mind would be alone, let him look at the stars.” Yet most
over matter.” people take nature for granted: “If the stars should
Nature is a short book (at only 95 pages one appear one night in a thousand years, how would
reviewer called it a “prose poem”) and includes men believe and adore.” The miracle of nature is
an introduction followed by eight brief thematic all around. As children we appreciated the “sim-
chapters that speak to various levels of human plicity” of nature; as adults we see its “wisdom.”
understanding of, and interaction with, nature. It Regrettably, “few adult persons can see nature .€.€.
was reprinted in 1849 along with several of Emer- At least they have a very superficial seeing.” In
son’s most important lectures given between 1837 nature, however, we will find “a perpetual youth.”
and 1844, in Nature; Addresses, and Lectures. A right relationship with nature also means an
The book, Nature, is different from the essay on understanding of the relation of the parts to the
“Nature” included in the 1844 collection, Essays: whole. It is the difference between seeing individ-
Second Series. ual farms owned by individual men and seeing
“the landscape.” It is “the poet” who “can inte-
Synopsis grate all the parts.” Emerson provides the model,
The introduction begins with Emerson’s observa- again in the language of truly “seeing” nature:
tion on society’s backward-looking approach to “Standing on the bare ground,— my head bathed
knowledge: “Our age is retrospective. It builds the by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space,—
sepulchres of the fathers. It writes biographies, his- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent
tories, and criticism.” We must break our depen- eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of
dence on the books and thinkers of the past and the Universal Being circulate through me; I am
develop instead “an original relation to the uni- part or particle of God.” In this experience, Emer-
verse” and “a poetry and philosophy of insight and son is aware of himself as simultaneously a small
not of tradition.” Emerson’s confidence in the indi- part of nature and an embodiment of the entire
vidual and in nature as the source of knowledge universe. The “inward and outward senses” are
leads to his declaration that “we have no questions aligned in nature, which “always wears the colors
186    Nature

of the spirit.” Far from being a passive relationship praising “winter scenery” as much as summer. Even
of giving oneself up to nature, “the power to pro- the same spot changes not only with the seasons
duce this delight, does not reside in nature, but in but also weekly, daily, even “every hour, a picture
man, or in a harmony of both.” which was never seen before, and which shall never
be seen again.”
2. “Commodity”
The second aspect of nature’s “Beauty” is
The second chapter focuses on our use of nature,
the “spiritual element,” or the idea that beauty
which provides us with raw materials and fulfills
reflects virtue. Human actions are inspired by,
the basic needs of “our senses” with food, shel-
ter, livelihood, and pleasure. We depend upon the and made more noble due to, the surrounding
“beasts, fire, water, stones, and corn.” These are natural beauty; for example, the majestic scenery
“low” uses of nature, only “temporary and medi- welcomed the early explorers. The third beautiful
ate, not ultimate, like its service to the soul.” Man aspect of nature is as “an object of the intellect,”
takes for granted, and sometimes even complains inspiring “thought” and art; this is called aesthet-
with “childish petulance,” all that nature gives him ics or “Taste.” Beyond appreciation of art, there
“on this green ball which floats him through the are those who, “not content with admiring, they
heavens.” Beyond even the raw materials of nature seek to embody it in new forms. The creation of
that we use in daily life, nature also assists humans beauty is Art.” Inspired by nature, humans cre-
by providing the wind, sea, ice, rain, and plants ate art, and art in turn “throws a light upon the
that feed the animals, all part of the “endless cir- mystery of humanity.” Still, this is not “the last or
culations” we depend upon. Yet we still think we highest expression” of nature.
are superior to nature because through our “wit” 4. “Language”
we have been able to reproduce some of nature’s In this chapter Emerson explains how nature is a
work (such as replacing winds with “steam”) or language available to humans and lists three ways
overcome some of nature’s obstacles (conquering in which “Nature is a vehicle of thought.” First of
sea and overland travel). Emerson ends this briefest all, the “outer” world of nature is a language of
chapter by noting “the catalogue is endless,” and “inward creation.” The words we use to explain
yet it is not enough “that he may be fed, but that ethics, thought, and emotion often come from the
he may work.” natural or physical world. For example, we say
3. “Beauty” “head” when we mean “thought” or mind, and
The third chapter examines “a nobler want” beyond we say “heart” when we mean “emotion.” Sec-
our physical needs, that is, how nature inspires “the ond, “natural facts are symbols of particular spiri-
love of Beauty.” Nature is filled with things that tual facts.” For example, when we call someone a
are beautiful “in and for themselves,” and, again “lion” or a “fox,” or describe someone as a “rock”
showing the interconnectedness of humans with or a “snake,” we are attaching a moral quality to
nature, the human eye is perfectly suited for view- a natural form. “Light and darkness are our famil-
ing the beauty of nature. He lists three aspects of iar expression for knowledge and ignorance,” and
nature’s “Beauty.” First, there are “natural forms,” analogies are made “between man’s life and the
a beauty so “needful to man” that it almost seems seasons,” between human life and the growth of a
like a commodity. Nature restores the mind and plant from seed to fruit. While it is the job of the
body, balances our attention to work, and gives poet-philosopher to illuminate these comparisons,
us “a horizon” as a source of hope: “We are never it is also “free to be known by all men.” Without
tired, so long as we can see far enough.” We can this correspondence to human life, nature and
get from nature what we seek in philosophy—his- science are just “dry catalogues of facts.” Lastly,
tory, imagination, understanding, mysticism, and nature is a language of the mind as well: “Parts
dreams. He challenges the utilitarian view that of speech are metaphors, because the whole of
nature is beautiful only at certain times of the year, nature is a metaphor of the human mind.” Nature
 Nature    187

is the language of “proverbs,€.€.€. fables, parables, 6. “Idealism”

and allegories.” When we understand nature “the In this key chapter Emerson defines his philoso-
universe becomes transparent,” and we see the phy of “Idealism”: that “the unspeakable but intel-
“higher laws.” This has been the task of every ligible and practicable meaning of the world” is
philosopher and “genius since the world began,” “conveyed to man” through “every object of sense,”
and he provides an intellectual history, from “the through nature. So “noble” is this as “the Final
Egyptians” down to Emanuel Swedenborg, of Cause of the Universe,” that Emerson admits to
“each prophet” who “tries his fortune at read- even doubting “whether nature outwardly exists”
ing her riddle.” Behind the facts of nature is an at all, or whether it is only a series of “sensations”
“unconscious truth,” which, once revealed, will be in the human mind. It does not matter to Emerson
become “a part of the domain of knowledge.” whether nature exists or it is only a manifestation
of the mind, so long as the result is the same: “Be
5. “Discipline” it what it may, it is ideal to me.” “The effect of
In this chapter Emerson uses both meanings of culture on the mind” may lead us to “regard nature
the word “discipline”: that is, nature as a field as a phenomenon, not a substance.” For example,
of knowledge or study and nature as a model for “the rapid movement of the rail-road car” gives
morality. The “lessons” of nature are “unlimited,” one a different view of the landscape than standing
as nature educates “both the Understanding and still. The difference in perspective challenges our
the Reason,” “Matter,” and “Mind.” In Emerson’s view of nature as stable and man as changing, by
use of the term (which he derives from Immanuel suggesting the opposite, that is, that “the world is a
Kant) “Understanding” comes through measur- spectacle, something in himself is stable.”
ing and classifying, through physical experience Poetry also “communicates the same plea-
or “common sense.” Through “Understanding” we sure” of a new perspective. The poet “unfixes the
comprehend nature’s “laws”—this is the knowl- land and the sea, makes them revolve around the
edge of “Agriculture, Astronomy, Zoology,” the axis of his primary thought.€.€.€. The sensual man
practical sciences. We then progress to “insight” conforms thoughts to things; the poet conforms
as we are “impressed and even daunted by the things to his thoughts. The one esteems nature as
immense Universe to be explored.” This is the dis- rooted and fast; the other, as fluid, and impresses
his being thereon.” The poet possesses not just
ciplining of our minds into nature’s “Reason,” a
“Reason,” but “Imagination.” Shakespeare pos-
realization that objects in nature “reflect the con-
sessed this power “of subordinating nature for the
science.” Through nature comes “the laws of right
purposes of expression” and through his words was
and wrong,” which “echo the Ten Command-
able “to dwarf the great, to magnify the small.” But
ments.” Emerson shows how the Bible itself uses
poets and philosophers differ in that the first has
nature to explain morality, the “farm” as “gospel” “beauty as his main end; the other Truth.” Ide-
with its stories of “the chaff and the wheat, weeds ally, beauty reveals truth and truth reveals beauty,
and plants, blight, rain, insects, sun.” Unlike the so these purposes are not entirely different, nor
Bible, however, the “variety” of nature suggests is the purpose of science, which is to understand
that there is no single morality or “truth” that the whole from “particulars.” Emerson points out
applies to all humans: “Who can guess how much that, like poetry and philosophy, sciences such as
firmness the sea-beaten rock has taught the fisher- physics and astronomy, in fact, rely less on “results
man?” Nature “is like a great circle on a sphere, of observation” and more on theory and formula.
comprising all possible circles; which, however, What Emerson terms “Intellectual science” then
may be drawn, and comprise it, in like manner doubts “the existence of matter” since “Ideas”
.€.€. it has innumerable sides.” Nature’s lessons are themselves become “objects of science” to be stud-
both universal and particular, and these lessons ied. He who pursues these questions will become
are its most “public and universal function.” “himself divine,” “immortal,” with the realization
188    Nature

that even “time and space” are not fixed features essence.” The separate categories of God, nature,
of nature. and man are imposed upon us, for “Who can set
This inquiry into the nature of human exis- bounds to the possibilities of man?” Emerson argues
tence itself leads Emerson to his last point in “Ide- that, through nature, “we learn that man has access
alism,” a discussion of “religion and ethics”—the to the entire mind of the Creator, is himself the
first of these comes from humans, the second from creator in the finite.” This truth “animates me to
nature. Religion goes too far in rejecting all things create my own world” rather than accept the world
material, such as nature and the body, focusing as it appears. And yet, we are still “strangers in
instead on the supernatural. Ethics, on the other nature” who have much to learn; for example, we
hand, does not require “the personality of God” do not yet understand the language of the animals,
nor does it require a repudiation of nature. For and there is still “discord” between the “noble land-
Emerson, ethics requires “a child’s love” of nature. scape” and “laborers .€.€. digging in the field hard
More than that, though, the idealist becomes part by.” A pure relationship to the “Spirit” through
of nature: “I expand and live in the warm day like nature remains an unattained ideal.
corn and melons .€.€. I only wish to indicate the
8. “Prospects”
true position of nature in regard to man.” Whereas
Having worked through successive levels of under-
religion sees God acting upon the world, “Ide-
standing of humanity’s relationship to nature,
alism sees the world in God.” Whereas religion
Emerson ends with the forward-looking “Pros-
accepts the world “as it finds it,” without question
pects.” Too much reliance upon “empirical sci-
or inquiry, Idealism “beholds the whole circle” and
ence” can stand in the way and distract us with
thus inspires the soul. He ends this chapter with a
nature’s “functions and processes,” without “con-
harsh critique of religion as requiring man to be “a
templation of the whole.” The task of the natural-
watcher more than a doer,” creating passive rather
ist is “continual self-recovery” rather than merely
than active souls.
cataloging nature. The scientist must be content
7. “Spirit” to guess rather than to know, to dream rather than
In this chapter Emerson explains that any “true to experiment. We have misunderstood “the prob-
theory of nature and of man” must be “progres- lems to be solved” in nature: “It is not so pertinent
sive,” it cannot have an “end” or “uses that are to man to know all the individuals of the animal
exhausted.” He compares nature to Jesus, as both kingdom.” It is more important to find patterns and
require us to be “devout .€.€. with bended head, and “unity” in diversity. Thus we will find that humans
hands folded upon the breast.” From nature, rather are not separate from nature, but that humanity
than from religion, we learn “the lesson of wor- can be found “in every great and small thing, in
ship.” As humans have found no way to describe or every mountain stream, in every new law of color,
define God—“both language and thought desert us fact of astronomy.”
.€.€. That essence refuses to be recorded in proposi- A purely scientific approach to nature is only
tions”—nature then stands in for God. Religion “half-sight” and “man applies to nature but half
is not enough to understand “the whole circum- his force,” just as labor or work makes “but a half-
ference of man.” Emerson proposes to “add some man,” feeding the body, not the mind or soul. There
related thoughts” to the subject, organized into are a few examples in human history of man utiliz-
three questions that sum up his entire philosophi- ing “his entire force,” for example, in “the history
cal project: “What is matter? Whence is it? And of Jesus Christ .€.€. [in the] religious and political
Whereto?” or to what purpose. revolutions, and in the abolition of the Slave-trade;
His “ideal theory” is a way “to account for the miracles of enthusiasm, as those reported by
nature,” and nature’s answer to the question of Swedenborg .€.€. and the Shakers; .€.€. prayer; Elo-
God or “spirit” is that these do not exist outside quence; self-healing; and the wisdom of children.”
of us, but they are rather all part of a “universal These are all examples of what humanity is capable
 Nature    189

of, “the exertions of a power which exists not in but he reworked these thinkers to create his own
time or space.” If individuals do not make “use of philosophy of idealism, what became known in the
all their faculties,” disharmony results: “The reason 19th century as Transcendentalism. Emphasizing
why the world lacks unity, and lies broken and in the centrality of individual experience, Emerson
heaps, is, because man is disunited with himself.” presented Nature as his own personal conclusions,
Exerting one’s “entire force” requires only a right but in such a way that the reader could make
relationship with nature: “The invariable mark of them his or her own as well: “Know then, that the
wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common. world exists for you .€.€. build, therefore your own
What is a day? What is a year? What is summer? world.”
What is woman? What is a child? What is sleep?” In calling for “an original relation to the uni-
These simple questions lead to greater ones: “What verse” in the opening paragraphs of Nature, Emer-
is truth?€.€.€. What is good?” The answers to these son speaks to a particularly American concern
questions are available to all who would ask. There about our relation to the past. Just as the United
is no difference between Caesar and a “cobbler” or States was still defining itself in relation to its Euro-
a farmer and a scholar: “Every spirit builds itself a pean past, Emerson himself struggled with breaking
house; and beyond its house a world; and beyond from the traditions of his ancestors, including from
its world, a heaven. Know then, that the world the church itself and from Christianity in general as
exists for you.€.€.€. Build, therefore, your own world. a religion “revealed” to a past generation. Emerson
As fast as you conform your life to the pure idea in seeks instead “a poetry and philosophy of insight”
your mind, that will unfold its great proportions.” and self-trust, the theme of much of his later lec-
tures and essays, from “The American Scholar”
Critical Commentary (1837), the “Divinity School Address” (1838),
The 1836 version of Nature opened with a verse “History” and “Self-Reliance” from Essays: First
from Plotinus, a Neoplatonic philosopher: Series (1841), “Experience” and the other Essays:
“Nature is but an image or imitation of wisdom, the Second Series (1844), and Representative Men
last thing of the soul; Nature being a thing which (1850), in which he offers up a new history with
doth only do, but not know.” The 1849 reprint examples of self-trusting “great men.”
in Nature; Addresses, and Lectures included instead Emerson’s self-trust meant trust in the entire
this verse from Emerson: universe: “we have no questions to ask which are
unanswerable.” This is a radical humanist state-
A subtle chain of countless rings
ment against doctrinal religious belief, which
The next unto the farthest brings;
he believed discouraged questions and, in fact,
The eye reads omens where it goes,
encouraged dependence. Emerson’s call for “an
And speaks all languages the rose;
original relation to the universe” is reflected in his
And, striving to be man, the worm
famous first-person experience of literally becom-
Mounts through all the spires of form.
ing one with nature in the “transparent eye-ball”
This opening verse reveals Emerson’s approach, passage of Nature. This passage, this idea, was eas-
in both philosophy and his writing, of starting ily caricatured by colleague Christopher Pearse
from one point and moving outward. It also intro- Cranch in his drawing of Emerson as a walking
duces many of the themes and images to follow in eyeball with legs and, despite Emerson’s emphasis
Nature and throughout his other writings, such that “all mean egotism vanishes .€.€. I am nothing,”
as the circle and the eye to represent continuity was criticized as the epitome of Transcendental-
and vision, the interconnectedness of all things in ist individualism and self-absorption. Despite such
nature, and humanity as nature’s highest “form.” criticisms, both the message of oneness with nature
Nature is, according to biographer Robert Rich- and the first-person stream of consciousness style
ardson, “a modern version of Plato, an American defined a new literary genre as well as a new phi-
version of Kant.” Emerson did not merely repeat, losophy and would later be echoed in the works
190    Nature

ring symbol of vision, of understanding, but also

of roundness and continuity. The eye turns nature
into “a well colored and shaded globe,” and the
landscape becomes “round and symmetrical,” again
representing unity and continuity within nature
and between humans and nature. This is the circu-
lar symbolism of the interconnectedness of nature
that he would develop more fully in the essay “Cir-
cles” (1841) and elsewhere.
Emerson’s discussion in “Beauty” and of per-
spective, of truly seeing nature, leads to his organic
or romantic aesthetic of art. The purpose of art is to
further inspire by reflecting and re-creating nature’s
beauty: “A work of art is an abstract or epitome of
the world. It is the result or the expression of nature,
in miniature.” Emerson would explore this theory in
the essay “Art,” in “History,” and in poems such as
“The Snow-Storm,” in which nature’s “frolic archi-
tecture” inspires human architecture. In Nature, it
is human intervention, such as technology or what
he terms “mechanical means,” that changes our
relationship to nature. For example, his discussion
of the railroad, which has changed our perspective
on the movement or stability of nature and thus
our relationship to nature, is a theme he addressed
in the poem “The Adirondacs” when he reports,
joyfully, on the news that the transatlantic cable
had been laid.
Christopher Pearse Cranch’s caricature of the Although each person should form his or her
“transparent eyeball” passage from Emerson’s Nature╇
own “original relation to the universe,” just like
(Houghton Library, Harvard University)
the artist or the scientist or even technology, the
poet-writer is another mediator between nature
of other writers of the era, such as in the poetry of and humanity. The poet translates the observable
Emily Dickinson or Walt Whitman. “facts” of nature into “knowledge” about ourselves
Each of the chapters in Nature reveals a differ- and the world. Nature is a mystery to be solved
ent use or relationship to nature, from utilitarian, and “The Sphinx” (subject of a later poem) guards
or meeting our physical needs, toward “a nobler nature’s secrets; the poet-philosopher is one who
want,” or more spiritual relationship to nature. attempts to unlock the riddle. In the chapter on
Always, however, the physical and the spiritual are “Language” Emerson presents the idea that nature
linked. The chapter “Beauty” introduces an aes- is a symbolic language. Indeed, this is a core idea
thetic appreciation of nature and of nature’s sym- of Emerson’s Transcendentalist philosophy and
bolism that he would return to in nature poems of his own goal as a poet-philosopher, an idea he
such as “The Rhodora” (in which he concludes, explored in the essay “The Poet” (1844) and that
“Beauty is its own excuse for being”), “The Hum- he especially saw manifested in the genius and craft
ble-Bee,” “The Snow-Storm,” and “Each and of William Shakespeare. In Nature, Shakespeare
All.” The imagery of seeing of the human eye, with possesses the power “of subordinating nature for
its ability to appreciate beauty as art, is a recur- the purposes of expression,” and Emerson would
 “Nature”    191

later expand on this in his the essay, “Shakspeare; all things as related, unlike Christianity, which is
or, the Poet” (1850). passed down from “an aged creeping Past” to the
It is important to note that Emerson wants to next generation unchanged. Emerson’s criticism is
make a comparison not only between idealism and that religion accepts the world “as it finds it,” with-
materialism but also between “the ideal theory” out question or inquiry and, therefore, does nothing
and “the popular faith.” What separated Emerson’s for the living soul. In a powerful conclusion, Emer-
Nature from that of his Transcendentalist col- son determines that everything about religion goes
leagues (and made it more radical, if sometimes less against philosophical and spiritual inquiry, which
accessible) was, first of all, that Emerson was not is the core of Emerson’s philosophy and life-work.
primarily concerned with theological debate within Religious belief requires passivity, not action, it “is
the churches. Nature was published inbetween his a watcher more than a doer.” Again, this would be
two primary statements on religion and Christian- the primary call to action of the “Divinity School
ity—“The Lord’s Supper” (1832) and the “Divinity Address” just two years later. In discussing nature
School Address” (1838). The former signaled his as “Spirit,” he was also working up to the idea he
break from the church; the latter from organized explored in the essay “The Over-Soul” (1841)—
religion completely. In these works, as in Nature, what he now termed in Nature as a “universal
he offered an alternative theology of the self that essence.” It is not a distant or separate God-father
did not depend upon the truths or untruths of what who works upon the soul but our own responsibility
the Transcendentalist-Unitarians called “historical to this “essence” and to ourselves that “animates
Christianity.” If Christ’s example had anything to me to create my own world through the purifica-
offer as a spiritual or moral model, that was fine, but tion of my soul.”
Emerson was not concerned with aligning his philo- Nature is thus a foundation for Emerson’s Tran-
sophical perspective with religious doctrine. He was scendentalist philosophy, which takes the suprem-
more concerned with how to live and with what it acy of the individual mind and soul as both the
meant to be human or, as he explained in Nature, starting point and the center of universal knowl-
“the laws of the world and the frame of things.” edge. In this formulation, nature is the source and
The chapter “Discipline” provides Emerson’s language of that knowledge. This fact requires a
clearest statement on nature as a source of moral radical reworking of the concept of “God” itself,
guidance. He makes the humanist’s argument that in secular terms, as nature and as humanity itself.
morality comes from within and that there are In the poem “The Adirondacs,” Emerson reflects
“natural,” not biblical, reasons not to live ethically. upon whether there is truly any separation between
Emerson’s genius is in showing how the Bible, in self and nature: “The clouds are rich and dark,
fact, uses and relies upon the language of nature the air serene, / So like the soul of me, what if ’t
in parables, for example, not because nature is a were me?” Rather than seeing God’s creation, the
simple language to understand, but because it is Transcendentalist-Idealist sees himself in nature.
the first language and source of morality. Moral- Emerson’s new “ideal theory,” as revealed in Nature
ity comes from studying nature, not religious texts, of 1836, is that God is another word for knowledge,
and ethics does not require what he calls “the per- that this knowledge is accessible to all through
sonality of God,” it only requires a right relation- nature, and that humanity’s ethical imperative is
ship with nature. This is a radical challenge not toward individual self-development.
only to the necessity of the Bible but to the neces-
sity of God, one he would return to in the “Divinity
School Address” when he urged his listeners to be
themselves “a divine man.” “Nature”╇ (1844)
The chapter “Idealism” furthers his discussion
of “religion and ethics,” in which it is idealism (not “Nature,” the sixth essay of Essays: Second Series
God) that “beholds the whole circle.” Idealism sees (1844), reprises Emerson’s seminal work Nature
 “The Poet”    215

In his declaration that Plato’s “argument and “The Sphinx,” “Threnody,” “To Ellen,” “Uriel,”
his sentence are .€.€. spherical,” we see Emerson’s “Woodnotes,” and “The World-Soul.” Several
self-identification with Plato as a Transcendentalist of the poems had previously appeared in newspa-
philosopher. In his essay “Circles” (1841), in which pers such as Atlantic Monthly, the Western
he laid out his own “spherical” arguments, Emerson Messenger, and the Dial.
referred to himself as a “circular Philosopher.” In Poems offered up many of the Transcendental-
the end, however, Emerson deems Plato “a great ist themes established in Emerson’s preceding col-
average man” with “a great common sense.” All of lections, Essays: First Series (1841) and Essays:
Emerson’s representative men are accessible, their Second Series (1844). It established Emerson
ideas are democratic, and they speak to the great- as a poet-philosopher breaking free of genre and
ness within each of us. So it is in Plato that “men see of theme. His poems dealt with spiritual, but not
in him their own dreams and glimpses.” He “builds religious, themes, a distinction noted by many of
a bridge” from his own time to ours. Socrates as his colleagues and first reviewers. Even friend and
well was, according to Emerson, “plain as a Quaker” fellow Transcendentalist Margaret Fuller had
with “a Franklin-like wisdom.” Here Emerson con- noted that Emerson’s poetry was “mostly philosoph-
nects the past and the present, with Franklin and ical, which is not the truest kind of poetry.” Still,
the Quakers influencing the Greeks, rather than the Fuller ranked Emerson as a poet, high “in melody,
other way around. Emerson thus makes Plato (and in subtle beauty of thought and expression.”
Socrates) into Americans, whereas it is Emerson Besides the themes of nature, love, spiritual laws,
who has been described as an “American Plato.” If and politics that pervade the poems, Emerson was
Plato’s project is connecting the lived experience to particularly concerned with the role of the poet him-
the ideal, then perhaps it is more accurate to say, self and with establishing a theory of the language of
as biographer Robert Richardson points out, that poetry and of poesis, or the writing of poetry. As Emer-
“Plato is a Greek premonition of Emerson.” son wrote in the essay, “The Poet” (1844), “it is not
metres, but a metre-making argument, that makes a
poem,—a thought so passionate and alive, that, like
the spirit of a plant or an animal, it has architecture
Poems╇ (1847) of its own, and adorns nature with a new thing.” The
definition of poetry and the role of the poet in soci-
Actually released in late December 1846, Poems is ety were topics he explored not only in essays such
usually attributed a publication date of 1847. It was as “The Poet” and “Shakspeare; or, the Poet” but
Emerson’s first collection of original poems—the also in specific poems from the volume, notably “Bac-
first of only three volumes of his poetry published chus,” “Merlin,” “Saadi,” and “The Sphinx.”
during his lifetime, followed by May-Day and
Other Pieces 20 years later in 1867 and Selected Further Reading
Poems in 1876. Poems includes 56 poems com- Morris, Saundra. “‘Metre-Making’ Arguments:
posed by Emerson between the early 1820s and Emerson’s Poems.” In The Cambridge Companion
the mid-1840s, including many of his best-known to Ralph Waldo Emerson, edited by Joel Porte and
verses, such as “Astraea,” “Bacchus,” “Blight,” Saundra Morris. New York: Cambridge University
“Dirge,” “Each and All,” “Eros,” “From the Press, 1999.
Persian of Hafiz,” “Initial, Daemonic, and
Celestial Love,” “Give All to Love,” “Hama-
treya,” “The Humble-Bee,” “Hymn, Sung at
the Completion of the Concord Monument,” “The Poet”╇ (1844)
“Merlin,” “Mithridates,” “Monadnoc,” “Ode to
Beauty,” “Ode, Inscribed to W. H. Channing,” “The Poet” is the first essay in Emerson’s book
“The Rhodora,” “Saadi,” “The Snow-Storm,” Essays: Second Series, published in October 1844.
216    “The Poet”

In the three years that followed Essays: First reading the truth of nature and returning it to us
Series, Emerson engaged in a series of lectures, in language, image, and symbol. Thus, the poet’s
developing material for his second book of essays. ability (his “science,” to use Emerson’s term) to do
An unpublished lecture titled “The Poet,” which this is crucial; “By virtue of this science the poet
Emerson delivered in Boston in the winter of is the namer, or language-maker, naming things
1841–42, provides much of the material for the sometimes after their appearance, sometimes after
essay “The Poet” as it appeared in 1844 (almost their essence, and giving to everyone its own name
certainly the rest of “The Poet” lecture material and not another’s, thereby rejoicing the intellect,
appeared in the essay “Poetry and Imagination,” which delights in detachment or boundary.” The
in the book Letters and Social Aims, in 1876). poet recovers the essence of the truth and returns
Emerson had originally intended to finish a second language to its origin. Emerson’s idea is that all
essay on nature to tie the first and second volumes language was once a thing, or a deed; the separa-
of Essays together thematically. As he had not been tion of a word from its origin is the separation of
able to refine the second nature essay to his liking, language from truth: “The etymologist finds the
the connecting essay, “The Poet,” became the first deadest word to have been once a brilliant picture.
essay of the new book. Language is fossil poetry.” And, later, “poetry was
The first motto poem for the essay is an unfin- all written before time was.” A recurring theme of
ished Emerson poem (and thus relegated to the the essay is the return to beauty and truth (which,
Appendix of the Poems volume of Edward Waldo according to Emerson’s aesthetic, are equivalent),
Emerson’s Collected Works, appearing, with other for “God has not made some beautiful things, but
unfinished verses, under the title “Fragments on Beauty is the creator of the universe.” The poet
the Poet and the Poetic Gift”). Emerson chose the perceives this beauty (truth) and returns it to us
second motto poem from his longer poem “Ode to (and us to it) by his skill.
Beauty.” The essay shifts at this point to a consideration
of aesthetics, in particular to the relation between
Synopsis truth and form. For Emerson, a poem determines
The opening paragraph of Emerson’s essay spells its own form, according to its own value and use.
out the problem he wishes to confront: “There is That is, the language dictates the poem. Thus,
no doctrine of forms in our philosophy. We were “For it is not metres but a metre-making argument,
put into our bodies, as fire is put into a pan, to be that makes a poem.” The distinction is that which
carried about; but there is no accurate adjustment English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (a strong
between the spirit and the organ.” We are out of influence on Emerson) makes between mechanical
balance with nature; we are separated from God form (like clay being shaped on a potter’s wheel)
because we lack the ability to see past the surface and organic form (such as a pear growing on a
of nature to its underlying, fundamental truth. This tree). Emerson’s claim rejects mechanical form
is the role of the poet: to enlighten us to “this hid- (“metres”) in favor of organicism (the “metre-mak-
den truth, that the fountains whence all this river ing argument,” or the truth behind the metre).
of Time, and its creatures, floweth, are intrinsically Emerson writes, “the universe is the externization
ideal and beautiful.” The poet, through use of lan- of the soul”; the metre-making argument is the
guage, image, and symbol, reconnects us to nature truth of the soul, given expression as a new set of
and to the divine, “for, as it is dislocation from the symbols, expressed in (or through) the universe.
life of God, that makes things ugly, the poet .€.€. re- Nature, according to Emerson, “offers all her
attaches things to nature.” creatures to [the poet] as a picture-language.€.€.€.
The truth of nature, for Emerson, is not only Things admit of being used as symbols, because
divine but also is necessarily human, because “all nature is a symbol, in the whole, and in every part.”
men live by truth, and stand in need of expres- Emerson envisions the symbol first, then the true
sion.” Thus, the poet reestablishes this truth by word to inhabit the symbol. The poet “perceives
 “The Poet”    217

that thought is multiform; that within the form of guage that has become deadened. Indeed, Emerson
every creature is a force impelling it to ascend into uses the terms “liberation,” “emancipation,” and
a higher form.” Man uses “the forms which express “metamorphosis” frequently in describing the poet.
that life and so his speech flows with the flowing This passage from the essay demonstrates in form
of nature.” The “facts of animal economy,” which and content Emerson’s fervor: “If the imagina-
Emerson lists as “sex, nutriment, gestation, birth, tion intoxicates the poet, it is not inactive in other
growth,” all constitute symbols that connect the men. The metamorphosis excites in the beholder
world to man and “impel” man to a higher form. an emotion of joy. The use of symbols has a cer-
Emerson’s circles never close but spiral inevitably tain power of emancipation and exhilaration for
upward, toward “a new and higher fact”; that is, the all men. We seem to be touched by a wand, which
truth “liberated” by the poet propels us beyond the makes us dance and run about happily, like chil-
superficial, to the fundamental truth. Thus, writes dren.” Emerson then proceeds, as he often does
Emerson, “poets are .€.€. liberating gods.” when caught in a fit of excitation, to cast off a list
In Emerson’s view, language is temporary, but of examples across history; in this case, he fills out
symbols are embodiments of eternal forms. Sym- a single sentence of 300-plus words, even beginning
bol is synonymous with thought. He writes: “The with the qualification that “I will not now con-
world being thus put under the mind for verb and sider how much this makes the charm of algebra
noun, the poet is he who can articulate it.€.€.€. We and mathematics.” The first sentence of the next
are symbols, and inhabit symbols; workmen, work, paragraph exactly frames the passage by repetition:
and tools, words and things, birth and death are all “The poets are thus liberating gods.”
emblems; but we sympathize with the symbols, and, Emerson’s thesis is strengthened by the great
being infatuated with the economical uses of things, wealth of examples from all disciplines from which
we do not know that they are thoughts.” This pro- he draws; the poet emancipates language from its
cess is made possible by Emerson’s declaration of staid associations with eternal forms, because of the
the symbol’s significance: “For all symbols are flux- poet’s visual and perceptual abilities and because
ional; all language is vehicular and transitive, and of his recognition of the fluidity of language, which
is good, as ferries and horses are, for conveyance, makes this liberation initially possible. Thus the
not as farms and houses are, for homestead.” poet realizes that words are thoughts, that “poetry
The poet can “see through the earth” and was all written before time was,” and “by an ulterior
“turns the world to glass, and shows us all things in intellectual perception, gives [thoughts] a power
their right series and procession.” Language is the which makes their old use forgotten, and puts eyes,
vehicle available to the poet; it is the material at and a tongue, into every dumb and inanimate
his disposal for communication. Language, in our object” and “did not stop at the color, or the form,
common usage, is superficial, dead, separated from but read their meaning; neither may he rest in this
its original association by time and by dogmatic meaning, but he makes the same objects exponents
inflexibility. The value of language for the poet of his new thought.”
is its malleability and its transparency; thus the But what are the prospects for poetry and the
poet, through his insight and clarity of vision, may poet? Emerson finds hope in the more prosaic sym-
restore original associations of words and things, bols of our own American experience; he writes,
and may also use words to inhabit symbols, creating “See the power of national emblems.€.€.€. The people
“new and higher facts.” The symbol is the means fancy they hate poetry, and they are all poets and
by which the poet utilizes language and transforms mystics!” However, he also writes, “I look in vain
thought into new, original thoughts. for the poet whom I describe.€.€.€. Time yields us
Emerson’s assertion that “poets are .€.€. liberating many gifts, but not yet the timely man, the new reli-
gods” refers to the ability of the poet to emancipate gion, the reconciler, whom all things await.€.€.€. We
conventional associations of language and facts or, have yet had no genius in America.” We are able
more precisely, facts as represented through lan- to be moved by symbols (as evidenced by the above
218    “The Poet”

claim), and Emerson, ever the optimist, writes, “The Poet” extends the purpose of the “Divin-
“Doubt not, O poet, but persist. Say, ‘It is in me, and ity School Address” (1838) by establishing the
shall out.’↜” The representative is not an ideal but a poet, not the priest, as the minister of the Word.
real poet (the essay “Shakspeare; or, the Poet” Emerson, through articulating the role and respon-
presents Emerson’s thoughts on the “representative sibility of the poet, redefined clerical responsibility
poet”); for Emerson, the problem of America (as he in moral as well as aesthetic terms; “The Poet”
claims in Nature) is our lack of “original relation to affirms Emerson’s shifting emphasis to the poet as
the universe” or, as expressed in this essay, the lack the arbiter of spiritual significance for the self. He is
of a representative American poet. able to do this on the basis of two principal tenets:
that the poet is capable of liberating the Word
Critical Commentary from its dead associations, and that language itself
Emerson biographer Robert Richardson writes, is fluid. In the process of defining the poet’s role,
“↜‘The Poet’ is arguably the best piece ever written Emerson also articulates an aesthetic of organicism,
on literature as literary process.” Emerson’s essays one that will determine the limits of language and
usually begin with an opening poem; “The Poet” the power of perception.
begins with two, and both are significant in their We must be careful not to qualify Emerson’s
form and in Emerson’s juxtaposition of the poems. “poet” as merely a versifier, or a composer of lyric
Emerson here is the theorist practicing his craft in writing. For Emerson, the poet articulates the truth
the truest sense: The poems illustrate in fact what (a term Emerson equates with “beauty,” “soul,” or
Emerson works to outline in theory. The first poem “nature”) behind appearances. The poet, Emerson
describes “A moody child and wildly wise / Pursued writes, “is representative. He stands among partial
the game with joyful eyes.” As is usual with Emer- men for the complete man, and apprises us not of
son, terms pertaining to vision have double and his wealth, but of the commonwealth.” The term
triple meanings; here, the child sees, and perceives, “representative,” in Emerson’s usage, suggests a
“Through worlds, and races, and terms, and times, type of poet, one who can speak for all people, while
/ .€.€. musical order, and pairing rhymes.” Emerson’s remaining part of the people (and thus is a repre-
faith in intuition over doctrine is suggested by the sentative symbol of God, who both is part of the
descriptive distinction between the “moody child” soul and is outside the soul at the same time). In
and his “joyful eyes.” This is a fundamental com- the opening essay of his book Representative Men
ponent of Emerson’s aesthetic: The eyes seek and (1850), Emerson writes, “The gods of fable are the
recognize eternal form in the poet’s mind. In other shining moments of great men;” and later, “A man
words, thought follows intuition, and intuition, in is a centre for nature, running out threads of rela-
this sense, is associated with visual perception. tion through everything fluid and solid material
The second poem, taken from Emerson’s own and elemental.” Thus is the poet “representative;”
“Ode to Beauty,” is a single, four-line stanza in he stands among men (the center of the circle)
regular, three-beat meter: “Olympian bards who and allows us, by relation, to find expression of the
sung / Divine ideas below, / Which always find us symbols we encounter. Emerson continues, in “The
young, / And always keep us so.” Line 3 suggests Poet,” that “all men live by the truth, and stand in
that the ideas, though sung in the past, still reso- need of expression.€.€.€. The man is only half him-
nate and are thus timeless: Time, for the poet, is self, the other half is his expression.” Thus is the
suspended in the presence of these divine ideas, yet poet the completion of man.
line 4 suggests that time is secondary, an ordered The work of the poet is defined by one of Emer-
concern of the mind, and not an eternal form; the son’s key aphorisms: “Art is the path of the creator
ideas that find us young “always keeps us so.” This to his work.” The scholar Joseph Slater refers to
idea is repeated from Emerson’s 1841 essay “The this as “an entire aesthetic in ten words,” and the
Over-Soul”: “Some thoughts always find us young phrase helps to refine Emerson’s central claims for
and keep us so.” the poet. On the surface this expression resembles
 “The Poet”    219

a metaphor, but in fact these values are equivalent St. Augustine described the nature of God as
only in the sense that they all express a different a circle whose centre was everywhere, and its
perception of the phenomenon of nature. How- circumference nowhere. We are all our lifetime
ever, “path” does not rename, modify, qualify, or reading the copious sense of this first of forms.
quantify the meaning of the term “art.” Instead, the
Reading this “first of forms,” or because “it is dislo-
four nouns—“art,” “path,” “creator,” and “work”—
cation and detachment from the life of God, that
all require further elucidation. The path does not
makes all things ugly,” requires of the poet a unique
suggest a movement from one point to the next,
condition of seeing. Emerson calls for a poet who
or from one state of being to another. The creator
“re-attaches things to nature and the Whole,—
is the poet, who does indeed create by his unique
reattaching even artificial things, and violations of
ability of perception of and unique combinations
nature, to nature, by a deeper insight,—disposes
of language in order to liberate new, original mean-
very easily of the most disagreeable facts.” “Seeing”
ings. Emerson writes:
corresponds to the figure of the eye, and the eye to
The poet is the sayer, the namer, and represents the circle, the “first of forms.” Emerson’s 10-word
beauty. He is a sovereign, and stands on the aesthetic statement—“Art is the path of the cre-
centre. For the world is not painted, or adorned, ator to his work”—may be applied to the physical
but is from the beginning beautiful; and God model defined in “Circles”:
has not made some beautiful things, but Beauty
Eye = first circle / Creator
is the creator of the universe. Therefore the
Horizon = second circle / Work
poet is not any permissive potentate, but is
Repetition of the primal figure throughout
emperor in his own right.
nature / the Path
The poet does not eschew form; in Emerson’s deter-
Art is the creator, the path, and the work in the
mination, “it is a proof of the shallowness of the
sense of process, not product. Emerson’s circles
doctrine of beauty, as it lies in the minds of our
never quite close on themselves, which seems to
amateurs, that men seem to have lost the percep-
suggest an evolution upward, as he expresses in this
tion of the instant dependence of form upon the
passage from “The Poet”:
soul.” Work is the process of this perception, not
its end result; the forms the poet observes, or per- But nature has a higher end, in the produc-
ceives, are ever changing, and the poem’s rendered tion of new individuals, than security, namely,
symbols are, to use Emerson’s term, “fluxional.” The ascension, or, the passage of the soul into higher
path, then, is also process: the process of intuition, forms.€.€.€. The poet .€.€. resigns himself to his
possible in all humans but uniquely active in the mood, and that thought which agitated him is
poet. Thus, art is a means, not an end, and the expressed, but alter idem, in a manner totally
significance of this means is the degree to which new. The expression is organic, or, the new type
the poet reconnects us to the world. Emerson has which things take when liberated. As, in the
removed, or at least defeated, time from his concept sun, objects paint their images on the retina of
of the poet’s work, so that his aesthetic has a quality the eye, so they, sharing the aspiration of the
of timelessness and also contains elements of form. whole universe, tend to paint a far more deli-
The most significant shape in Emerson’s scheme cate copy of their essence in his mind.
is, of course, the circle. The 1841 essay “Circles”
The spiraling form in nature is eternal; in lan-
begins:
guage, the spiral pattern suggests the way in which
The eye is the first circle; the horizon which words become distanced from their original asso-
it forms is the second; and throughout nature ciations. However, the spiral also implies a means
this primary figure is repeated without end. It is by which the poet might realize the original rela-
the highest emblem in the cipher of the world. tion of words to things by reattaching them in the
220    “The Poet”

opposite direction, in ways that recognize the pas- ability of language to change, in the hands of the
sage of time (original associations of words with poet, to create new symbols), making forms clear
things) and transcend time (liberating words from to others is the poet’s role. Emerson uses the terms
static connections, making their symbolic possi- words, language, and symbol almost interchange-
bilities eternal). The poet, then, must be able to ably, because in consideration of the distinction
recognize the spiral, “the circuit of things through between symbol and language, the symbol is the
forms,” in nature. That is, first, the poet must have key to understanding form; words inhabit symbols,
sight—physical sight, perception, and insight—to and the quality of symbols is “fluxional.” “All the
translate the forms of nature into the language of facts of animal economy,” writes Emerson, “are
man. Emerson explains the qualifications and the symbols of the passage of the world into the soul
process: of man, to suffer there a change, and reappear
a new and higher fact. He [the poet] uses forms
This insight, which expresses itself by what is
according to the life, and not according to the
called Imagination, is a very high sort of seeing,
form. This is true science.”
which does not come by study, but by the intel-
In Nature (1836), and in later addresses (such as
lect being where and what it sees, by sharing
“The American Scholar” [1837] and the “Divin-
the path, or circuit of things through forms, and
ity School Address”), Emerson’s thinking about the
so making them translucid to others. The path
“ideal” poet contains a twofold strain: His progress
of things is silent. Will they suffer a speaker
toward the role of the poet, and not the priest, as
to go with them? A spy they will not suffer; a
the disseminator of truth and receiver of divine
lover, a poet, is the transcendency of their own
revelation often utilizes metaphor rather than
nature,—him they will suffer. The condition of
direct language; also, Emerson’s habit of using the
true naming, on the poet’s part, is his resign-
oxymoronic phrase is obvious. But Emerson uses
ing himself to the divine aura which breathes
this style often to express ideas that escape the pos-
through forms, and accompanying that.
sibilities of language; he is interested in “nature” as
The “very high sort of seeing” Emerson describes ideal form, the mask upon which is imprinted the
here is the unique condition of seeing possessed mind of God, but also nature as physical fact. And
by the poet, which combines sight, perception, though Henry James, Sr., referred to Emerson as
and insight; but, it is important to recognize that the “man without a handle,” Emerson the natural-
Emerson emphasizes the visual, not only in a sym- ist exists coincidentally with Emerson the idealist.
bolic, but also in a very real sense, as essential “Language is fossil poetry” seems indeed the expres-
to the poet and primary over all apparatuses of sion of an idealist, but this same writer penned the
sensory input. The significance of sight is essen- phrase “symbols are signs of natural facts,” and the
tial to the poet’s task, by “sharing the path, or facts to which he refers are concrete. “America is
circuit of things through forms, and so making a poem in our eyes,” he writes in “The Poet,” “its
them translucid to others.” The path is the art ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it
of the poet, in the nominal sense; in the active will not wait long for meters.” The expression of
sense, the path is the conduit through which the forthcoming “meters” will be poetic, but the
the poet communicates. Emerson’s choice of the eyes and the geography are physical, concrete. The
term translucid seems to express very precisely poet will communicate the forms behind the physi-
this intention. Translucid is a term Emerson con- cal world we experience.
strues as a noun to make use of the prefix “trans-,”
meaning through or across, and “lucid,” meaning Further Reading
clear, bright, rational, or sane. Emerson wants to Francis, Richard Lee. “↜‘The Poet’ and ‘Experience’:
convey not only clarity of sight but also clarity Essays: Second Series.” In Emerson Centenary Essays,
through forms. The poet’s role is that of “namer,” edited by Joel Myerson. Carbondale: Southern Illi-
but given the shifting quality of language (and the nois University Press, 1982.
 “Self-Reliance”    235

son’s age at the time of publication (he was 73) and

his declining mental health. By this period of his
“Self-Reliance”╇ (1841)
life, his friend and literary executor James Elliot Drawn from journals and lectures of the 1830s,
Cabot and daughter Ellen Emerson had taken Emerson’s seminal essay on “Self-Reliance” was
over compilation and editing of his prose work and first published in Essays: First Series (1841). It has
were actively involved in the publication of other since become one of his most widely read essays,
works, such as Parnassus (1874), a collection of the foundational statement of Emerson’s Transcen-
Emerson’s favorite poems by other poets, and Let- dentalist philosophy and of American individualism
ters and Social Aims (1876). During this time
in general. As Emerson later noted (in “Historic
period Emerson also received assistance with his Notes of Life and Letters in New England”) of his
manuscripts from friends Elizabeth Hoar, Frank- own 19th century, “The age tends to solitude,” pro-
lin Benjamin Sanborn, and James Russell Low-
moting “every one for himself; driven to find all his
ell. Most scholars have therefore assumed that
resources, hopes, rewards, society and deity within
Selected Poems was also guided more by Cabot and himself.” Indeed, Emerson did more than anyone
Ellen Emerson than by Emerson himself. else to outline the philosophical imperative of “Self-
Other scholars, however, now argue to the Reliance.” His essay opens with the Latin quote,
contrary, stating that Selected Poems “belonged “Ne te quaesiveris extra,” translated as “Do not seek
to Emerson” more than any of these other later outside yourself.”
works, as the evidence shows he spent his own The idea of “Self-Reliance” is present through-
time carefully selecting and revising old poems and out Emerson’s thought and writing. The idea
writing the new poems to include. For example, already formed the basis of his two earlier impor-
Ellen Emerson specifically noted in a letter to her tant addresses, “The American Scholar” in 1837
sister Edith Emerson in September 1875, “Father (which emphasized reliance on self rather than
is still at work on the new poems, and I am not on books and history) and the “Divinity School
helping.” As scholar Joseph Thomas argues, Emer- Address” of 1838 (with its call to finding divinity
son remained more capable of and interested in within rather than through religion). One therefore
completing the poetry project than in editing or cannot speak of Emerson’s philosophy, of Ameri-
writing prose in his later elderly years, making can Transcendentalism, without the core idea of
Selected Poems “his last full labor of love.” The self-reliance. He himself wrote in his journal in
collection, therefore, perhaps deserves more atten- April 1840: “In all my lectures I have taught one
tion from students and scholars than it has to date doctrine, the infinitude of the private man.”
received. Emerson had lectured specifically on the topic
Indeed, many of the poems included in the vol- of “Self-Reliance” as early as 1833, and in 1835 he
ume were not products of Emerson’s later years, but listed “the sublimity of Self-Reliance” as one of his
they had been written by Emerson many years ear- own “thoughts and illustrations” that he planned to
lier and were previously published. It is now clear more fully develop as a topic. In 1839 he had written
that he began selecting and revising poems for such in his journal, “Trust thyself. Every heart vibrates to
a volume as early as 1865. His poems, even many of that iron string.” Nor is this simple message confined
those published in his earlier collections, Poems and to one piece in his 1841 collection Essays, but it
May-Day, were in fact always works-in-Â�progress, is intertwined throughout his expositions on “His-
fluid pieces that changed as his own identity as a tory,” “Love,” “Friendship,” “Circles,” “Spiritual
poet changed. Laws,” and “The Over-Soul,” as well as his later
works.
Further Reading
Thomas, Joseph M. “Late Emerson: Selected Poems Synopsis
and the ‘Emerson Factory.’↜” ELH 65, no. 4 (1998): Emerson opens the essay “Self-Reliance” with an
971–994. anecdote, recalling, “I read the other day some
236    “Self-Reliance”

verses written by an eminent painter which were to make such outward connections in an effort
original and not conventional.” This originality is, to prove your character; rather, simply, “do your
to him, the true “value” of an idea, “let the subject work, and I shall know you.” Religion is defined
be what it may.” This reflection in the opening by conformity and unoriginality, the opposites of
lines supports the full force of his main argument self-reliance: “If I know your sect, I anticipate your
for the essay: “To believe your own thought, to argument.” The minister, in particular, is bound by
believe that what is true for you in your private sect, by “communities of opinion,” and is not an
heart is true for all men,—that is genius.” He pres- independent man.
ents the Transcendentalist idea that every truth It is not just society that poses a risk to the self
originates in and radiates outward from the human but limitations we impose upon ourselves. We are
mind, so that “the inmost in due time becomes the afraid of “self-trust” and adhere to our own “consis-
outmost.” We should look within and appreciate tency” in the comfort of “our past act or word.” We
our own thought, rather than look to the thoughts criticize change and contradiction, but “a foolish
of others: “A man should learn to detect and watch consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored
that gleam of light which flashes across his mind by little statesmen, philosophers, and divines. With
from within, more than the luster of the firmament consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.”
of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice It is better to speak different thoughts each day
his thought, because it is his.” Education is not than to be consistent out of fear: “To be great is to
about “envy” or “imitation” but rather about self- be misunderstood.”
discovery and self-acceptance. Knowledge is to be We can only act in accordance with our nature
cultivated within ourselves, not derived from oth- and our false actions to please society to not reveal
ers. “Trust thyself.” Trust the “transcendent des- our true character: “Your conformity explains
tiny” of your own life. nothing.” Instead, we are explained by a variety
Self-trust requires we return to the openness of of seemingly unrelated “zigzag” actions throughout
childhood. Emerson watches the “oracles nature our lives: “The force of character is cumulative.”
yields” in babies and children and wonders how If someone or something reminds you of someone
and why we lose this “unaffected, unbiased, unbrib- else, it is not true or genuine, for “character” is
able, unaffrighted innocence” we once held. Society unique and individual, and “reminds you of nothing
requires conformity and thus requires we silence our else.” Men of character are at “the centre of things”
authentic selves: “These are the voices which we and “all history resolves itself very easily into the
hear in solitude, but they grow faint and inaudible biography of a few stout & earnest persons.”
as we enter into the world.” The self-reliant person Self-reliance means confidence in ourselves: “let a
“must be a nonconformist” and must accept that man then know his worth.” Nothing is beneath you.
“nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your Do not look at “a palace, a statue, or a costly book”
own mind.” We must not accept others’ definitions and think it is greater than or “forbidding” to you; it
but determine the truth for ourselves: “He .€.€. must is you, waiting for you to “take possession” and make
not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must your own “verdict” on it. Emerson believes that
explore if it be goodness .€.€. the only right is what there is no difference in the lives of “great” men and
is after my constitution, the only wrong what is “ordinary” men; whether “kingdom and lordship” or
against it.” We cannot derive goodness or morality regular people doing a “common day’s work .€.€. the
from “large societies and dead institutions.” We things of life are the same to both.” Your “private
must follow only what comes from within: “What act to-day” is as important as their “renowned” acts
I must do is all that concerns me, not what the of the past. The rights and honor due to kings and
people think.” others is “the right of every man.” Self-trust is the
Conformity and adherence to a “dead church” source “of genius, of virtue, and of life.”
or to political parties are “screens” that hide “the Emerson explains how self-trust relates to the
impression of your character.” It is not necessary idea of God, namely, that if there is a God, he would
 “Self-Reliance”    237

“communicate, not one thing, but all things.” Truth mazes of natural and supernatural.” Prayer is, in
and “divine spirit” are directly revealed, with no fact, selfishness, and “as a means to effect a private
need for a mediator: “If, therefore, a man claims to end is meanness and theft.” Prayer assumes separa-
know and speak of God, and carries you backward tion from God “and not unity in nature and con-
to the phraseology of some old mouldered nation sciousness.” If we were truly “one with God,” there
in another country, in another world, believe him would be no need to “beg.” Prayer comes from
not.” Why privilege the god of books rather than “discontent” and “regrets,” which are the opposite
the god of direct experience? Why look to the past of self-reliance: “As men’s prayers are a disease of
for something greater than yourself? “Is the acorn the will, so are their creeds a disease of the intel-
better than the oak?” lect.” Religious beliefs originate in “some power-
He answers his own question by declaring that ful mind,” but when spread among “unbalanced
humans are “timid and apologetic.” We would quote minds,” the idea becomes “idolized.” The faithful
someone else before trusting our own instincts and soon look to “their master” to explain everything
experiences. He uses the analogy of nature, which to them, blinded by this one idea to the true “mil-
always trusts itself, making no reference to the past. lion-orbed, million-colored” “immortal light” of
The “full-blown flower” is the same essence as the the universe.
“leafless root.” Nature lives in the present and is The second area Emerson addresses is American
“resolution of all into the .€.€. ONE”—“the ultimate culture. “It is for want of self culture” that “edu-
fact.” The power of nature derives from self-reli- cated Americans” have such a “fascination” with
ance, self-sufficiency—that which is not self-suf- Europe and spend much time traveling abroad.
ficient in nature will not survive. Emerson challenges instead to see that “the soul
Emerson then moves to a discussion of the rela- is no traveler; the wise man stays at home.” It is
tionship of the self to society. “We must go alone,” fine to travel and learn about the world, to spread
being responsible only for ourselves. We need not “benevolence,” but the individual must not expect
adopt “the faults” or “folly” of our friends and fam- to find something “greater than he knows.” He will
ily but must see that the world is “in conspiracy” not “get somewhat which he does not carry” within
against us with “trifles” and worries. We must have himself and can never travel “away from” himself.
integrity enough to resist: “No man can come near It is easy to believe that happiness lies elsewhere,
me but through my act.” We must obey only “the to believe that “at Rome, I can be intoxicated with
eternal law,” not customs. This is not selfish, it beauty, and lose my sadness.” But this is a problem
is truth to self—“cannot sell my liberty and my within, and this person will find, no matter where
power” to save feelings and friendships. Emerson he or she travels, “the stern fact, the sad self, unre-
urges to be “godlike” and be your own “doctrine, lenting, identical, that I fled from.”
society, law.” Society makes us “afraid” and “timo- The third (and related) area into which Emer-
rous,” and the result is that most people “cannot son applies the question of self-culture is art.
satisfy their own wants.” Everything we have in our Travel and imitation of foreign culture are signs of
lives—homes, relations, religion—“we have not “a deeper unsoundness.” The American “intellect
chosen, but society has chosen for us.” We wait for is vagabond” and imitation (in art, architecture, or
chance when instead we need “self-trust” and “new furnishings) is “travelling of the mind.” Americans
powers shall appear.” should not focus on “the Past and the Distant”
In the next section Emerson looks at four dif- but realize that “beauty, convenience, grandeur of
ferent aspects of social life and determines that thought .€.€. [are] near to us.” We need an Ameri-
“a greater self-reliance must work a revolution” in can artist and mindset to appreciate America. The
each of these areas. The first of these is religion, American artist must “never imitate,” for no “mas-
and the first problem with religion is the idea of ter” can teach us about ourselves, which we will
prayer. Prayer is the opposite of self-reliance, for then have only “half possession” of. He notes that
it “looks abroad” for guidance through “endless Shakespeare had no master.
238    “Self-Reliance”

Lastly, Emerson looks to the “spirit of society” resolves itself very easily into the biography of a
itself and its relation to self-reliance. He concludes few stout & earnest persons,” is the companion
that “society never advances .€.€. for every thing piece to his exploration of this theme in the essay
that is given, something is taken.” For example, the “History” (of the same 1841 volume) and seems
cost of “civilization” is loss of “aboriginal strength,” to be the inspiration for the specific examples of
technology replaces “skill,” and religion replaces Plato, Shakespeare, and the other representative
virtue. We only progress when we believe that “no minds, as discussed further in “Uses of Great
greater men are now than ever were.” Our science Men” (1850).
and art as it exists now would not be any greater Beyond the development and self-trust of the
education for great men centuries before: “Society individual, “Self-Reliance” constitutes a critique
is a wave. The wave moves onward, but the water of the society, the institutions, that prevent the
of which it is composed does not.” The main prob- self-trust of the individual, namely religion, poli-
lem with society, Emerson warns, is “reliance on tics, and even philosophy. Against the “statesmen
Property, including the reliance on governments and philosophers and divines” who compete for
which protect it,”—this reliance on property is “the our minds, he urges the individual to stand alone
want of self-reliance.” We value and protect things and “trust thyself.” Institutions require confor-
and “institutions” and affiliations rather than who mity to rules, rituals, and tradition, and the “dead
we are. We wait for “good days” to come from church” is perhaps the worst, as religion is defined
“Fortune” or “Chance,” when, in fact, “nothing can by conformity and unoriginality. The minister, in
bring you peace but yourself.” particular, is bound by sect, by “communities of
opinion,” and is not an independent man. These
Critical Commentary thoughts echo his own reasons for leaving the
The essay “Self-Reliance” addresses both the mean- ministry several years earlier, as explained in “The
ing of self-reliance to the individual and the rela- Lord’s Supper” (1832) and then generalized in
tionship of that self-reliant individual to society. It his radical call in the “Divinity School Address”
is a call to the individual to declare his or her inde- for each “to go alone; to refuse the good models,
pendence from society, but throughout the essay, even those which are sacred in the imagination of
Emerson explains that self-reliance ultimately ben- men, and dare to love God without mediator or
efits society in several different ways. Self-reliance veil.” Religion, in Emerson’s view, is only the most
is not egotism but the foundation of a society made blatant example of seeking something greater out-
up of individuals who, in eschewing “consistency,” side of oneself, and we should instead (as he urged
questioning authority, and seeking authentic in Nature of 1836) seek “an original relation to
meaning in their lives, create a more perfect soci- the universe.”
ety. The idea of that perfect society manifests in As with religion, so too with doctrines and meth-
terms that would echo throughout Emerson’s prose ods of reformers. Emerson is emphatic, through-
and poetry, in particular in his call for a distinctly out his writings, that we cannot derive goodness
American culture (“The American Scholar”) and or morality from doctrines, from “large societies
in his writings on reform (“New England Reform- and dead institutions,” but we can only discern
ers” and his lectures on abolitionism). it from within. Thus, self-reliance is the basis of
In “Self-Reliance” Emerson emphasizes that social change, for in building better individuals we
self-trust means never imitating another and seeing build a better society. Emerson returned to this
instead the greatness within. “Character” is always view of reform again and again throughout his writ-
unique and individual but also often “misunder- ings, as those around him committed themselves
stood.” The idea of great men, of great character, to various causes related to antislavery, women’s
and of misunderstood genius echoes throughout rights, utopianism, and education and labor
his later project, Representative Men (1850). His reform. Emerson resisted joining organizations and
statement here in “Self-Reliance,” that “all history in his general statements on reform (such as “New
 “Shakspeare; or, the Poet”    239

England Reformers,” “Man the Reformer,” and in Emerson’s selection of favorite verses and poets
“The Conservative”) he resisted commitment to included in Parnassus (1874).
a single cause, arguing instead for universal reform By the 1840s, there was a surge in literary and
and questioning the character and self-trust of the historical scholarship on Shakespeare, which
reformer, rather than the injustice of the issue at informed Emerson’s reading of (and continued
hand. He did address issues individually in essays return to) Shakespeare. The mid-19th century also
such as “American Slavery,” “Emancipation of saw the spread of theater as entertainment and
the Negroes in the British West Indies,” and the emergence of American playwrights produc-
“Woman,” but in “Self-Reliance” he gives a clear ing Shakespeare’s plays. Emerson (as reported in a
and emphatic explanation for why he will not reminiscence by Edwin Whipple in 1882) confessed
give money to every cause, instructing the earnest that “while others are capable of being carried away
reformer to instead, “Go love thy infant; love thy by an actor of Shakspeare .€.€. whenever I visit the
wood-chopper: be good-natured and modest: have theatre to witness the performance of one of his
that grace; and never varnish your hard, unchari- dramas, I am carried away by the poet.” (Note: the
table ambition with this incredible tenderness for spelling of Shakespeare’s name varied widely in his-
black folk a thousand miles off. Thy love afar is torical and literary sources; Emerson usually spelled
spite at home.” it without the “e” after the “k.”)
In “Self-Reliance” Emerson defines nature (as Emerson’s early views on Shakespeare have
he had as well in his 1836 book on Nature) as the been identified by some scholars as “bardolatry.”
“resolution of all into the ever-blessed one. Self- At least one contemporary, however, thought
existence is the attribute of the Supreme Cause, Emerson was too critical of Shakespeare; Emerson
and it constitutes the measure of good by the noted in his journal, “Henry Thoreau objected to
degree in which it enters into all lower forms.” In my ‘Shakspeare,’ that the eulogy impoverished the
this sense, then, “Self-Reliance” is the immediate race. Shakspeare ought to be praised, as the sun
personalized companion to his idea expressed in is, so that all shall be rejoiced.” But Emerson was
“The Over-Soul” of the same volume. not interested in hero worship, declaring (as he
did with each of his “great men”) that what is most
Further Reading important about Shakespeare is “the Shakspeare
Buell, Lawrence. “Emersonian Self-Reliance in The- in us.”
ory and Practice.” In Emerson, 59–106. Cambridge,
Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2003. Synopsis
Emerson begins “Shakspeare” by repeating a point
he addresses in each of the other essays in the vol-
ume: “Great men are more distinguished by range
and extent, than by originality.” To be a “genius”
“Shakspeare; or, the Poet”╇ is to be already “indebted” to the ideas of others.
(1850) Genius is moved by “the river of the thoughts and
events” of the time. The genius works with “mate-
“Shakspeare; or, the Poet” was the fourth of six rials collected”: “Men, nations, poets, artisans,
biographical essays included in Emerson’s 1850 women, all have worked for him, and he enters into
text, Representative Men. Although Emerson their labors.” Genius is “being altogether receptive.”
had admired the works of William Shakespeare In 16th-century England, theater was the inex-
(1564–1616) since college, and had lectured on pensive form of “the people”; Emerson compares it
Shakespeare in an 1835–36 series on English lit- to the “newspapers” of his own time. Many “stage-
erature, the core of the essay for the 1850 volume plays” were written and circulated as public prop-
was drawn from a lecture given in London in 1848. erty, altered and performed by different groups. In
Many years later Shakespeare figured prominently order to understand Shakespeare, then, we must