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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- Author: Ralph Waldo Emerson
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When Emerson, in his old age, had his house injured by fire, his friends contributed funds to repair it and to send him to England. The gift was proffered graciously and accepted gratefully.
[468] Buddhist. A follower of Buddha, a Hindoo religious teacher of the fifth century before Christ.
NATURE[469] Nature. Emerson's first published volume was a little book of essays, entitled Nature, which appeared in 1836. In the years which followed, he thought more deeply on the subject and, according to his custom, made notes about it and entries in his journals. In the winter of 1843 he delivered a lecture on Relation to Nature, and it is probable that this essay is built up from that. The plan of it, however, had been long in his mind: In 1840 he wrote in his journal: "I think I must do these eyes of mine the justice to write a new chapter on Nature. This delight we all take in every show of night or day or field or forest or sea or city, down to the lowest particulars, is not without sequel, though we be as yet only wishers and gazers, not at all knowing what we want. We are predominated here as elsewhere by an upper wisdom, and resemble those great discoverers who are haunted for years, sometimes from infancy, with a passion for the fact, or class of facts in which the secret lies which they are destined to unlock, and they let it not go until the blessing is won. So these sunsets and starlights, these swamps and rocks, these bird notes and animal forms off which we cannot get our eyes and ears, but hover still, as moths round a lamp, are no doubt a Sanscrit cipher covering the whole religious history of the universe, and presently we shall read it off into action and character. The pastures are full of ghosts for me, the morning woods full of angels."
[470] There are days, etc. The passage in Emerson's journal is hardly less beautiful. Under date of October 30, 1841, he wrote: "On this wonderful day when heaven and earth seem to glow with magnificence, and all the wealth of all the elements is put under contribution to make the world fine, as if Nature would indulge her offspring, it seemed ungrateful to hide in the house. Are there not dull days enough in the year for you to write and read in, that you should waste this glittering season when Florida and Cuba seem to have left their glittering seats and come to visit us with all their shining hours, and almost we expect to see the jasmine and cactus burst from the ground instead of these last gentians and asters which have loitered to attend this latter glory of the year? All insects are out, all birds come forth, the very cattle that lie on the ground seem to have great thoughts, and Egypt and India look from their eyes."
[471] Halcyons. Halcyon days, ones of peace and tranquillity; anciently, days of calm weather in mid-winter, when the halcyon, or kingfisher, was supposed to brood. It was fabled that this bird laid its eggs in a nest that floated on the sea, and that it charmed the winds and waves to make them calm while it brooded.
[472] Indian Summer. Calm, dry, hazy weather which comes in the autumn in America. The Century Dictionary says it was called Indian Summer because the season was most marked in the sections of the upper eastern Mississippi valley inhabited by Indians about the time the term became current.
[473] Gabriel. One of the seven archangels. The Hebrew name means "God is my strong one."
[474] Uriel. Another of the seven archangels; the name means "Light of God."
[475] Converts all trees to wind-harps. Compare with this passage the lines in Emerson's poem, Woodnotes:
Tuned to the lay the wood-god sings."
[476] The village. Concord, Massachusetts. Emerson's home the greater part of the time from 1832 till his death.
[477] I go with my friend, etc. With Henry Thoreau, the lover of Nature.
[478] Our little river. The Concord river.
[479] Novitiate and probation. Explain the meaning of these words, in the Roman Catholic Church. What does Emerson mean by them here?
[480] Villegiatura. The Italian name for a season spent in country pleasures.
[481] Hanging gardens. The hanging gardens of Babylon were one of the seven wonders of the world.
[482] Versailles. A royal residence near Paris, with beautiful formal gardens.
[483] Paphos. A beautiful city on the island of Cyprus, where was situated a temple of Astarte, or Venus.
[484] Ctesiphon. One of the chief cities of ancient Persia, the site of a magnificent royal palace.
[485] Notch Mountains. Probably the White Mountains near Crawford Notch, a deep, narrow valley which is often called "The Notch."
[486] Γolian harp. A stringed instrument from which sound is drawn by the passing of the wind over its strings. It was named for Γolus, the god of the winds, in Greek mythology.
[487] Dorian. Dorus was one of the four divisions of Greece: the word is here used in a general sense for Grecian.
[488] Apollo. In Greek and Roman mythology, the sun god, who presided over music, poetry, and healing.
[489] Diana. In Roman mythology, the goddess of the moon devoted to the chase.
[490] Edens. Beautiful, sinless places,βlike the garden of Eden.
[491] Tempes. Places like the lovely valley of Tempe in Thessaly, Greece.
[492] Como Lake. A lake of northern Italy, celebrated for its beauty.
[493] Madeira Islands. Where are these islands, famous for picturesque beauty and balmy atmosphere?
[494] Common. What is a common?
[495] Campagna. The plain near Rome.
[496] Dilettantism. Define this word and explain its use here.
[497] "Wreaths" and "Flora's Chaplets." About the time that Emerson was writing his essays, volumes of formal, artificial verses were very fashionable, more as parlor ornaments than as literature. Two such volumes were A Wreath of Wild Flowers from New England and The Floral Offering by Mrs. Frances Osgood, a New England writer.
[498] Pan. In Greek mythology, the god of woods, fields, flocks, and shepherds.
[499] The multitude of false cherubs, etc. Explain the meaning of this sentence. If true money were valueless, would people make false money?
[500] Proteus. In Greek mythology, a sea god who had the power of assuming different shapes. If caught and held fast, however, he was forced to assume his own shape and answer the questions put to him.
[501] Mosaic ... Schemes. The conception of the world as given in Genesis on which the law of Moses, the great Hebrew lawgiver, was founded.
[502] Ptolemaic schemes. The system of geography and astronomy taught in the second century by Ptolemy of Alexandria; it was accepted till the sixteenth century, when the Copernican system was established. Ptolemy believed that the sun, planets, and stars revolve around the earth; Copernicus taught that the planets revolve around the sun.
[503] Flora. In Roman mythology, the goddess of the spring and of flowers.
[504] Fauna. In Roman mythology, the goddess of fields and shepherds; she represents the fruitfulness of the earth.
[505] Ceres. The Roman goddess of grain and harvest, corresponding to the Greek goddess, Demeter.
[506] Pomona. The Roman goddess of fruit trees and gardens.
[507] All duly arrive. Emerson deducts from nature the doctrine of evolution. What is its teaching?
[508] Plato. (See note 36.)
[509] Himalaya Mountain chains. (See note 193.)
[510] Franklin. Give an account of Benjamin Franklin, the famous American scientist and patriot. What did he prove about lightening?
[511] Dalton. John Dalton was an English chemist who, about the beginning of the nineteenth century, perfected the atomic theory, that is, the theory that all chemical combinations take place in certain ways between the atoms, or ultimate particles, of bodies.
[512] Davy. (See note 69.)
[513] Black. Joseph Black, a Scotch chemist who made valuable discoveries about latent heat and carbon dioxide, or carbonic acid gas.
[514] The astronomers said, etc. Beginning with this passage, several pages of this essay was published in 1844, under the title of Tantalus, in the next to the last number of The Dial, which Emerson edited.
[515] Centrifugal, centripetal. Define these words.
[516] Stoics. See "Stoicism," 331.
[517] Luther. (See note 188.)
[518] Jacob Behmen. A German mystic of the sixteenth century; his name is usually written Boehme.
[519] George Fox. (See note 202.)
[520] James Naylor. An English religious enthusiast of the seventeenth century; he was first a Puritan and later a Quaker.
[521] Operose. Laborious.
[522] Outskirt and far-off reflection, etc. Compare with this passage Emerson's poem, The Forerunners.
[523] [OE]dipus. In Greek mythology, the King of Thebes who solved the riddle of the Sphinx, a fabled monster.
[524] Prunella. A widely scattered plant, called self-heal, because a decoction of its leaves and stems was, and to some extent is, valued as an application to wounds. An editor comments on the fact that during the last years of Emerson's life "the little blue self-heal crept into the grass before his study window."
SHAKESPEARE; OR, THE POET[525] Shakespeare; or the Poet is one of seven essays on great men in various walks of life, published in 1850 under the title of Representative Men. These essays were first delivered as lectures in Boston in the winter of 1845, and were repeated two years later before English audiences. They must have been especially interesting to those Englishmen who had, seven years before, heard Emerson's friend, Carlyle, deliver his
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