Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), aside from being the founder of the Transcendentalist movement in America, was also a noted moral philosopher and lecturer. He moved in a literary circle that included Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts. Concord, Massachusetts served as the intellectual epicenter of the group. A font of profound moral observations, Emerson's published essays are mainstays at today's bookstores and internet websites where they plumb Nature's relationship to humankind and humankind's fickle nature.
In his lifetime, Emerson expanded his traveling lectures, covering practical issues such as self-reliance and friendship, into written essays. For the modern reader, Emerson’s prose is not easy to read. He wrote in that stilted 19th century style, full of metaphors, digressions, and scholarly references to ancient text. As far as getting straight to the point, Emerson proves as elusive, or meandering, as Henry James--the king of the circuitous prose, in my layman's opinion.
I plodded through “Friendship” as if it resembled a swamp full of tangled roots, rusted tin cans, and discarded tires. Lest I miss a fine point, one is compelled to shift to lower gear and scrutinize every phrase for hidden witticism.
Emerson submitted that Truth and Tenderness are the pillars on which friendship stands. In the essay, Emerson explored the rewards and inequities of a personal relationship, referring to a friend as a "delicious torment." A friend can be very knowledgeable and perceptive, but still not fully aware with all that he (Emerson) is.
Somewhere in his laborious prose, Emerson provides several nuggets of wisdom that stand out like warts on a bald head. Here are some:
In his lifetime, Emerson expanded his traveling lectures, covering practical issues such as self-reliance and friendship, into written essays. For the modern reader, Emerson’s prose is not easy to read. He wrote in that stilted 19th century style, full of metaphors, digressions, and scholarly references to ancient text. As far as getting straight to the point, Emerson proves as elusive, or meandering, as Henry James--the king of the circuitous prose, in my layman's opinion.
I plodded through “Friendship” as if it resembled a swamp full of tangled roots, rusted tin cans, and discarded tires. Lest I miss a fine point, one is compelled to shift to lower gear and scrutinize every phrase for hidden witticism.
Emerson submitted that Truth and Tenderness are the pillars on which friendship stands. In the essay, Emerson explored the rewards and inequities of a personal relationship, referring to a friend as a "delicious torment." A friend can be very knowledgeable and perceptive, but still not fully aware with all that he (Emerson) is.
Somewhere in his laborious prose, Emerson provides several nuggets of wisdom that stand out like warts on a bald head. Here are some:
“ I will receive from them not what they have but what they are.”
“ It has seemed to me lately more possible that I knew, to carry a friendship greatly, on one side, without due correspondence on the other. Why should I cumber myself with regrets that the receiver is not capacious? It never troubles the sun that some of his rays fall wide and vain into ungrateful space, and only a small part on the reflecting planet.”
“ I do then with my friends as I do with my books. I would have them where I can find them, but I seldom use them. “
“The only way to have a friend is to be one.”
“We talk sometimes of a great talent for conversation, as if it were a permanent property in some individuals. Conversation is an evanescent relation,--no more.”
Emerson is not a favorite as Thoreau. However, I recognize his wealth of knowledge and wide breadth of understanding. We must read some of Emerson, if only to round off our cultural literacy.
Emerson is not a favorite as Thoreau. However, I recognize his wealth of knowledge and wide breadth of understanding. We must read some of Emerson, if only to round off our cultural literacy.
