The complete works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Letters and social aims [Vol. 8]

stand in surprising neighborhood, and, like the words of great men, without cant."

Page 55, note 1. From Beaumont and Fletcher's play The Nice Valour, Act III, Scene 3.

Page 57, note 1. The "Invocation" comes from D. W. Nash's "Taliesin, or the Bards and Druids of Britain, a Translation of the Remains of the Earliest Welsh Bards and an Examination of the Bardic Mysteries" London: John Russell Smith, 1858.

Page 59, note 1. Heimskringla, vol i.

Page 63, note 1. Before this paragraph the following passages occurred in the lecture, on the question of poetry at home:—

"The question is often asked, Why no poet appears in America? Other nations in their early expanding periods, in their war for existence, have shot forth the flowers of verse, and created a mythology which continued to charm the imagination of after-men. But we have all manner of ability, except this: we are brave, victorious, we legislate, trade, plant, build, sail, and combine as well as many others, but we have no imagination, no constructive mind, no affirmative books; we have plenty of criticism, elegant history; all the forms of respectable imitation; but no poet, no affirmer, no grand guiding mind, who intoxicates his countrymen with happy hopes,—makes them self-respecting, with faith that rests in their own minds, and is not imported from abroad;—and, first of all, our lives are impoverished and unpoeted, that is, inhuman. The answer is, for the time, to be found in the preoccupation of all men. The work of half the world to be done: and it is the hard condition of Nature, that, where one faculty is excessive, it lames all the rest. We are the men of practice, the men of our hand, and, for the time, our brain

/ 474
Pages

Actions

file_download Download Options Download this page PDF - Page 371 Image - Page 371 Plain Text - Page 371 Download this item Item PDF - Pages #1-474

About this Item

Title
The complete works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Letters and social aims [Vol. 8]
Author
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882.
Canvas
Page 371
Publication
Boston ; New York :: Houghton, Mifflin,
[1903-1904].

Technical Details

Link to this Item
https://name.umdl.umich.edu/4957107.0008.001
Link to this scan
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/emerson/4957107.0008.001/395:18

Rights and Permissions

The University of Michigan Library provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes. These materials are believed to be in the public domain; however, if you decide to use any of these materials, you are responsible for making your own legal assessment and securing any necessary permission. If you have questions about the collection, please contact Digital Collections Help at [email protected]. If you have concerns about the inclusion of an item in this collection, please contact Library Information Technology at [email protected].

DPLA Rights Statement: No Copyright - United States

Manifest
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/api/manifest/emerson:4957107.0008.001

Cite this Item

Full citation
"The complete works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Letters and social aims [Vol. 8]." In the digital collection The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/4957107.0008.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 12, 2025.
Do you have questions about this content? Need to report a problem? Please contact us.

Downloading...

Download PDF Cancel