Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/50

* EMERSON. 36 EMERSON. in the Dial during its brief existence. In the same year be wrote the editor's address for the newlj founded Massachusetts Quarterly Runic, but did no further writing for it. In October he set sail for Europe for the second time. He delivered in England a series of lectures, some of which he gathered together in a volume entitled Rep- resentative Men (1850). The subject suggests^ i arlyle'a Heroes and Hero-Worship of ten years' b, fore; but the treatment of the subjects and the manner of approaching them are different. With ( arlyle, the hero, be it in war or in letters, is the n n who molds the way of the world; with Emerson the representative man is so called sim- ply because he stands for an ideal of individual integrity-— a character whence springs his worth. The journey to Europe also resulted in 1856 in a brilliant book of travel, Englisli Traits. In 1860 appeared The Conduct of Life, a volume of essavs on such subjects as "Power." -Wealth," 'Tate," and •■Culture." This was followed in 1867 by a collection of poems, which had previously been published in the Dial and the Atlantic Monthly, entitled May- Day and Other Pieces, and in 1870 by an- ■ i- volume of ethical essays, Society and tude. During the winters of 1S68-70 Emer- son delivered a series of lectures at Harvard College on the Watural History of Intellect, which wire posthumously published (1893). He in nle his third and last voyage to Europe in ls72. From about this time on his memory began to show signs of giving way. and. though he retained to the end of his life his command of his general ethical principles, his work after is;.", was fragmentary and scattering. In 1874 he made a collection of favorite poem-, which he called Parnasi us, and the following year his lasl volume of essays, Litters and Social Aims, ap peared. A revised edition of his i ms followed in 1878, and the same year were published a lecture on the "Sovereignty of Ethics," and one on the "Fortunes of the Republic." His death. whicl tfter a Bhort illness, occurred at I . ocord, Mass . pril 27, 1882. on i- described as tall and -lender. Hi was nearlj -i feel in height and weighed about 1 10 pounds. He was no! erect in Hi- head was rather small in di- mension, long and narrow, but loftj ami sym- metrical. "His face," says Holme-, "was thin, big no-e omewhal aceipitrinc, easting a broad hadow : bis nth rather wide, well formed and well closed, carrying a question and an assertion in its finely finished curves; the lower lip a little on nt. the chin shapely and linn. His whole i.mI ... ;i irradiated by an ever-active inquiring Intel! igence, ETi mannei p a noble ami m i cious." Hi- p'i oeal habits were of the simplest tut were in no wise ascetic, lie is said to havi ii I by a feeling, not uncommon among New Englanders, of tin. more reiine.1 sort of physical insufficiency; and account for the fact that he rarely i., active measures, but chose to mplat ive life. imong i : w ilh the . |,t ion of, 7 ,, il ski tche . ms iiv calli rl i hey represent ■■< point of ■ and (!,■ Important, Po libly the addresses printed in the volume called Xa- I in i. together with that tract, all of which were written before 1S45, represent a slightly more enthusiastic and zealous spirit than the later essays, and are rather more specific in subject. But, in the main, all the essays set forth a con- stant and enthusiastic belief in the value of in- dividuality and the need of every man's planting himself iii the ground of his own consciousness and natural affection. Being 1 himself a man of many intuitions and of wonderful vigor in phrasing them, he is to be regarded as a prophet rather than as a philosopher. He sought to con- struct no system, but stood for a constant idealis- tic impulse. what he wrote was not based primarily on experience, nor did he ever write as the so-called man of the world. Emerson's poetry is written from much the same point of view as his prose. While his con- temporaries and friends among American poets were variously expressing themselves, as Poe in the search for beauty, or Longfellow in the phrasing of generous truisms and romance, or Whittier in his anti-slavery verse, or Holmes in his graceful occasional way. Emerson wa utter- ing his feeling for the innate morality of the universe. The number of his poems is not large, for he wrote only when the mood prompted him, and not systematically. Few of his poems are long, but one is narrative, and almost all may be termed philosophical and reflective. They are by no means so popular as those of L'ongfellow or of Whittier; but among them are to be found some of the best poems that America has produced. Among the best-known are: "The Sphvnx," "The Problem," "Hama- treya," "The Rhodora," "The Bumblebee," The Snowstorm," "Woodnotes," the "Threnody." in commemoration of the death of his young son. the "Concord Hymn." "Brahma," "Terminus," and the quatrain "Sacrifice." I Mm has been the subject of much criti- cism. That of an adverse sort censures him for relying chiefly i, r altogether on his intuitive i -on sciousness instead of submitting his generaliza- tion- to the test of reason. Though gifted, to a. very unusual among men. with a genius for piercing through appearances,, he seldom or never took the trouble, say the rationalists, to analyze these i id impressions with a view to as- certaining their verily. The consequence is that, though some of hi- work is fresh and wholesome in its I ruth bearing qualities, much of it is ob .in,' I unsubstantiated in th< mmon ex- perience of mankind. Another criticism some- what akin to this is directed at his frequent superficiality, born of the same failure to verify statements by patient investigation. In conse- quence of this trait, his work is very uneven. disjointed, and formless. It is an agglomera- tion of detached sentences ami epigrams, rather it,. in a reasonable an I consecutive presentation of truth. Finally, it is charged that his influence on hi- immediate followei ra to cultivate a frequently epigrammatic and obscure manner of Uttering platitudes and -hallow thought, and that, in the main, he has retarded in America. the (rrowth of reasonable thinking processes. On I he ot i i.i hand, even hi severest crit ics would admit i hat bis influence ha largely keen whole- ■ That influence ha certainly been vast; no "Hill American man of lettei, probably, has been bo potent a source of inspiration to his fellows.