the favorite of
Heaven and earth, the excellency of his country, the happiest of men
in painting, in
sculpture, in poetry, in fiction, in eloquence
any antiquity, any
usage, any livery productive of ease or profit
the resources, the
subject, and the discipline of the scholar
its fragrant midsummer breath, its
sparkling January heaven
Greece, Rome, England, France, St.
Helena
churches, literatures, and empires
to history, to the
pyramids, and the authors
neither Greece nor
Rome, nor the three Unities of Aristotle, nor the three Kings of Cologne, nor
the College of the Sorbonne, nor the Edinburgh Review
the Plutarchs, the Cudworths, the
Tennemanns
of Parmenides, Heraclitus, and
Xenophanes
Milton, Shakspeare, and Plato
in spite of slumber
and guilt, in spite of the army, the bar-room, and the jail
observe them,
approach them, domesticate them, brood on them
the crowded orders,
the stern decisions, the foreign despatches, the Castilian etiquette
in the workmen, the
boys, the maidens, you meet
in the hopes of the
morning, the ennui of noon, and sauntering of the afternoon
in the disquieting
comparisons; in the regrets at want of vigor; in the great idea, and the puny
execution
behold Chatham's,
Hampden's, Bayard's, Alfred's, Scipio's, Pericles's day
its sweetness, its
greatness, its pain
its evanescent
beauties, its wonderful details, its spiritual causes, its astounding whole
paint a Transfiguration, or build a
steamboat, or be a grand-marshal
poetry, wit, hope,
virtue, learning, anecdote
free, impassioned,
picturesque speech
with thoughts, with
pictures, with rhythmical balance of sentences
flowers, birds,
mountains, sun, and moon
The screaming of the
wild geese flying by night; the thin note of the companionable titmouse, in the
winter day; the fall of swarms of flies, in autumn, from combats high in the
air, pattering down on the leaves like rain; the angry hiss of the wood-birds;
the pine throwing out its pollen for the benefit of the next century; the
turpentine exuding from the tree
Homeric, or Shakspearian, or Miltonic,
or Chaucerian pictures
the sun and the moon, the snow and the
rain
the name of the Pelasgi, of Athens, of the Etrurian, of the Roman people
and politics, and
philosophy, and letters, and art
to sift and wash and
strain
such a flyaway, such a slyboots, so
untransportable and unbarrelable
Translate, collate, distil
Greece, Rome,
Stoicism, Eclecticism
Plato, Bacon, Kant,
and the Eclectic Cousin
solitary, laborious,
modest, and charitable
he does not see; he
does not hear; he does not think
cherish your soul;
expel companions; set your habits to a life of solitude
private, sincere,
divine
the garden, the
cottage, the forest, and the rock
Pindar, Raphael,
Angelo, Dryden, De Stael
with abstractions,
with verities, with ideas
balls, concerts,
rides, theatres
and retire, and hide;
lock the door; shut the shutters; then welcome falls the imprisoning rain
of muse and prophet,
of art and creation
do chores, and
suffer, and weep, and drudge
silence, seclusion,
austerity
the fool of society,
the fool of notoriety, a topic for newspapers, a piece of the street
the russet coat, the
privacy, and the true and warm heart of the citizen
the subtlest, strongest, and
longest-lived
incomplete, pedantic,
useless, ghostly creatures
of tenderness, of terror, of will, and
of fate
needs, appetites,
talents, affections, accomplishments
Out of love and hatred, out of
earnings, and borrowings, and lendings, and losses; out of sickness and pain;
out of wooing and worshipping; out of travelling, and voting, and watching, and
caring; out of disgrace and contempt
exactly, bravely, and
cheerfully
demolished cavalry,
infantry, king, and kaisar
experience, methods,
tools, and means
no word, no act, no record
the transaction, a
letter of credit or a transfer of stocks
get land and
money, place and name
What is this Truth you seek? what is
this Beauty?
be bold, be firm, be
true
of art, and poetry,
and science
an acre, house, and
barn
roof, and bed, and
board
in all men's possessions,
in all men's affections, in art, in nature, and in hope.
This is an erasure
poem made from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “An Oration delivered before the
Literary Societies of Dartmouth College, July 24, 1838.”
