Emerson's Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson (best free ebook reader for android TXT) π
Froude in his famous "Life of Carlyle" gives an interesting description of Emerson's visit to the Carlyles in Scotland:
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[282] Bard. Poet: originally one who composed and sang to the music of a harp verses in honor of heroes and heroic deeds.
[283] Hymn, ode, and epic. Define each of these three kinds of poetry.
[284] Apollo. In classic mythology, the sun god who presided over music, poetry, and art; he was the guardian and leader of the Muses.
[285] Muses. In classic mythology, the nine sisters who presided over music, poetry, art, and science. They were Clio the muse of history, Euterpe of music, especially the flute, Thalia of comedy, Melpomene of tragedy, Terpsichore of dancing, Erato of erotic poetry, mistress of the lyre, Polyhymnia of sacred poetry, Urania of astronomy, Calliope of eloquence and epic poetry.
[286] Genius. According to an old belief, a spirit that watched over a person to control, guide and aid him.
[287] "Crush the sweet poison," etc. This is a quotation from Comus, a poem by Milton.
[288] Systole and diastole. (See note 98.)
[289] Friendship, like the immortality, etc. See on what a high plane Emerson places this relation of friendship. In 1840 he wrote in a letter: "I am a worshiper of friendship, and cannot find any other good equal to it. As soon as any man pronounces the words which approve him fit for that great office, I make no haste; he is holy; let me be holy also; our relations are eternal; why should we count days and weeks?"
[290] Elysian temple. Temple of bliss. In Greek mythology, Elysium was the abode of the blessed after death.
[291] An Egyptian skull. Plutarch says that at an Egyptian feast a skull was displayed, either as a hint to make the most of the pleasure which can be enjoyed but for a brief space, or as a warning not to set one's heart upon transitory things.
[292] Conscious of a universal success, etc. Emerson wrote in his journal: "My entire success, such as it is, is composed wholly of particular failures."
[293] Extends the old leaf. Compare Emerson's lines:
The gods arrive."
[294] A texture of wine and dreams. What does Emerson mean by this phrase? Explain the whole sentence.
[295] "The valiant warrior," etc. The quotation is from Shakespeare's Sonnet, xxv.
[296] Naturlangsamkeit. A German word meaning slowness. The slowness of natural development.
[297] Olympian. One who took part in the great Greek games held every four years on the plain of Olympia. The racing, wrestling and other contests of strength and skill were accompanied by sacrifices to the gods, processions, and banquets. There was a sense of dignity and almost of worship about the games. The Olympic games have been recently revived, and athletes from all countries of the world contest for the prizesβsimple garlands of wild olive.
[298] I knew a man who, etc. The allusion is to Jonas Very, a mystic and poet, who lived at Salem, Massachusetts.
[299] Paradox. Define this word. Explain its application to a friend.
[300] My author says, etc. The quotation is from A Consideration upon Cicero, by the French author, Montaigne. Montaigne was one of Emerson's favorite authors from his boyhood: of the essays he says, "I felt as if I myself, had written this book in some former life, so sincerely it spoke my thoughts."
[301] Cherub. What is the difference between a cherub and a seraph?
[302] Curricle. A two-wheeled carriage, especially popular in the eighteenth century.
[303] This law of one to one. Emerson felt that this same law applied to nature. He wrote in his journal: "Nature says to man, 'one to one, my dear.'"
[304] Crimen quos, etc. The Latin saying is translated in the preceding sentence.
[305] Nonage. We use more commonly the word, "minority."
[306] Janus-faced. The word here means simply two-faced, without the idea of deceit usually attached to it. In Roman mythology, Janus, the doorkeeper of heaven was the protector of doors and gateways and the patron of the beginning and end of undertakings. He was the god of the rising and setting of the sun, and was represented with two faces, one looking to the east and the other to the west. His temple at Rome was kept open in time of war and closed in time of peace.
[307] Harbinger. A forerunner; originally an officer who rode in advance of a royal person to secure proper lodgings and accommodations.
[308] Empyrean. Highest and purest heaven; according to the ancients, the region of pure light and fire.
HEROISM[309] Title. Probably this essay is, essentially at least, the lecture on Heroism delivered in Boston in the winter of 1837, in the course of lectures on Human Culture.
[310] Motto. This saying of Mahomet's was the only motto prefixed to the essay in the first edition. In later editions, Emerson prefixed, according to his custom, some original lines;
Sugar spends to fatten slaves,
Rose and vine-leaf deck buffoons,
Thunder clouds are Jove's festoons,
Drooping oft in wreaths of dread
Lightning-knotted round his head:
The hero is not fed on sweets,
Daily his own heart he eats;
Chambers of the great are jails,
And head-winds right for royal sails."
[311] Elder English dramatists. The dramatists who preceded Shakespeare. In his essay on Shakespeare; or, the Poet, Emerson enumerates the foremost of these,β"Kyd, Marlowe, Greene, Jonson, Chapman, Dekker, Webster, Heywood, Middleton, Peele, Ford, Massinger, Beaumont and Fletcher."
[312] Beaumont and Fletcher. Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher were two dramatists of the Elizabethan age. They wrote together and their styles were so similar that critics are unable to identify the share of each in their numerous plays.
[313] Rodrigo, Pedro, or Valerio. Favorite names for heroes among the dramatists. Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar, known usually by the title of the Cid, was the national hero of Spain, famous for his exploits against the Moors. Don Pedro was the Prince of Arragon in Shakespeare's play, Much Ado About Nothing.
[314] Bonduca, Sophocles, the Mad Lover, and Double Marriage. The first, third and fourth are names of plays by Beaumont and Fletcher. In the case of the second, Emerson, by a lapse of memory, gives the name of one of the chief characters instead of the name of the playβThe Triumph of Honor in a piece called Four Plays in One. It is from this play by Beaumont and Fletcher that the passage in the essay is quoted.
[315] Adriadne's crown. According to Greek mythology, the crown of Adriadne was, for her beauty and her sufferings, put among the stars. She was the daughter of Minos, King of Crete; she gave Theseus the clue by means of which he escaped from the labyrinth and she was afterwards abandoned by him.
[316] Romulus. The reputed founder of the city of Rome.
[317] Laodamia, Dion. Read these two poems by Wordsworth, the great English poet, and tell why you think Emerson mentioned them here.
[318] Scott. Sir Walter Scott, a famous Scotch author.
[319] Lord Evandale, Balfour of Burley. These are characters in Scott's novel, Old Mortality. The passage referred to by Emerson is in the forty-second chapter.
[320] Thomas Carlyle. Carlyle was a great admirer of heroes, asserting that history is the biography of great men. One of his most popular books is Heroes and Hero-Worship, on a plan similar to that of Emerson's Representative Men.
[321] Robert Burns. A Scotch lyric poet. Emerson was probably thinking of the patriotic song, Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled.
[322] Harleian Miscellanies. A collection of manuscripts published in the eighteenth century, and named for Robert Harley, the English statesman who collected them.
[323] Lutzen. A small town in Prussia. The battle referred to was fought in 1632 and in it the Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus gained a great victory over vastly superior numbers. Nearly two hundred years later another battle was fought at Lutzen, in which Napoleon gained a victory over the allied Russians and Prussians.
[324] Simon Ockley. An English scholar of the seventeenth century whose chief work was a History of the Saracens.
[325] Oxford. One of the two great English universities.
[326] Plutarch. (See note 264.)
[327] Brasidas. This hero, described by Plutarch, was a Spartan general who lived about four hundred years before Christ.
[328] Dion. A Greek philosopher who ruled the city of Syracuse in the fourth century before Christ.
[329] Epaminondas. A Greek general and statesman of the fourth century before Christ.
[330] Scipio. (See note 205.)
[331] Stoicism. The stern and severe philosophy taught by the Greek philosopher Zeno; he taught that men should always seek virtue and be indifferent to pleasure and happiness. This belief, carried to the extreme of severity, exercised a great influence on many noble Greeks and Romans.
[332] Heroism is an obedience, etc. In one of his poems Emerson says:
So near is God to man,
When Duty whispers low, 'Thou must,'
The youth replies, 'I can.'"
[333] Plotinus. An Egyptian philosopher who taught in Rome during the third century. It was said that he so exalted the mind that he was ashamed of his body.
[334] Indeed these humble considerations, etc. The passage, like many which Emerson quotes, is rendered inexactly. The Prince says to Poins: "Indeed these humble considerations make me out of love with my greatness. What a disgrace it is to me to remember thy name! or to know thy face to-morrow! or to take note how many pairs of silk stockings thou hast, that is, these and those that were thy peach-colored ones! or to bear the inventory of thy shirts, as, one for superfluity and another for use!" Shakespeare's Henry IV., Part II. 2, 2.
[335] Ibn Hankal. Ibn Hankul, an Arabian
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