The world's "attractions are the keys which unlock my thoughts and make me acquainted with myself."
— Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)
Date
August 31, 1837
Metaphor
The world's "attractions are the keys which unlock my thoughts and make me acquainted with myself."
Metaphor in Context
The world, — this shadow of the soul, or other me, lies wide around. Its attractions are the keys which unlock my thoughts and make me acquainted with myself. I run eagerly into this resounding tumult. I grasp the hands of those next me, and take my place in the ring to suffer and to work, taught by an instinct, that so shall the dumb abyss be vocal with speech. I pierce its order; I dissipate its fear; I dispose of it within the circuit of my expanding life. So much only of life as I know by experience, so much of the wilderness have I vanquished and planted, or so far have I extended my being, my dominion. I do not see how any man can afford, for the sake of his nerves and his nap, to spare any action in which he can partake. It is pearls and rubies to his discourse. Drudgery, calamity, exasperation, want, are instructers in eloquence and wisdom. The true scholar grudges every opportunity of action past by, as a loss of power.
(p. 70)
(p. 70)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Pagination keyed to Stephen Whicher's Selections from Ralph Waldo Emerson: An Organic Anthology. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1957. <eBooks@Adelaide>
Date of Entry
03/31/2010
