"The Rhodora" By Ralph Waldo Emerson
This 16 line poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson revolves around the beauty of the rhodora flower. The narrator is outside in the springtime and has found a beautiful rhodora, "Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook", and is reflecting on it's ability to bring beauty to such a dismal setting. He then addresses the purple flower, telling it how it's beauty is not wasted on the earth but in fact, has it's own purpose. "Tell them, dear, that, if eyes were made for seeing,/
Then beauty is its own excuse for Being;". The narrator then leaves the reader with the thought that the same thing that created the rhodora, created him as well.
This poem was written under the influence of a transcendentalist view point concerning nature's pureness and absolute goodness. In the lines stating, "I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods/ Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook", we find nature's ability to brighten our day and refresh it's surroundings. In modern day society, nature ("the fresh Rhodora") provides a much needed break from the bustling yet bland urban setting ("damp nook") that most people live in. Just seeing something beautiful that the earth has created gives the viewer a sense of happiness and proudness to be sharing the world with something so lovely. With a society being so taken over by industry and technology, we need to continue to nurture the bond between nature and humanity that has existed since the very beginning.
The euphoric effects of the wild and it's positive impacts on man are further explored in another one of Ralph Waldo Emerson's works, "Nature". This essay continues to analyze what spending time outdoors can really do for our wellbeing.
Then beauty is its own excuse for Being;". The narrator then leaves the reader with the thought that the same thing that created the rhodora, created him as well.
This poem was written under the influence of a transcendentalist view point concerning nature's pureness and absolute goodness. In the lines stating, "I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods/ Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook", we find nature's ability to brighten our day and refresh it's surroundings. In modern day society, nature ("the fresh Rhodora") provides a much needed break from the bustling yet bland urban setting ("damp nook") that most people live in. Just seeing something beautiful that the earth has created gives the viewer a sense of happiness and proudness to be sharing the world with something so lovely. With a society being so taken over by industry and technology, we need to continue to nurture the bond between nature and humanity that has existed since the very beginning.
The euphoric effects of the wild and it's positive impacts on man are further explored in another one of Ralph Waldo Emerson's works, "Nature". This essay continues to analyze what spending time outdoors can really do for our wellbeing.