The Rhodora Analysis

Author: poem of Ralph Waldo Emerson Type: poem Views: 9

On Being Asked, Whence Is The Flower?

In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
The purple petals, fallen in the pool,
Made the black water with their beauty gay;
Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
And court the flower that cheapens his array.
Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
Then Beauty is its own excuse for being:
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask, I never knew:
But, in my simple ignorance, suppose
The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.

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||| Analysis | Critique | Overview Below |||

.: Transcendentalism :.

(whence always means from where)
This poem reflects Emerson's deep appreciation for nature and the beauty that he constantly found in it. He prefers the wild and natural rhodora to the pruned, indoor, and tamed rose.
There is a great emphasis on color and imagery in this poem as well.

| Posted on 2008-02-06 | by a guest

.: The Preface of The Poem :.

According to the statement that prefaces this poem, the poem attempts to explain what is special about this ordinary plant. In the heading, “whence” doesn’t necessarily mean when, but from where, or from what origin. Therefore, the heading of the poem implies that someone asked the speaker where the flower came from. This is another way of asking what is so special about this ordinary shrub.

| Posted on 2007-11-28 | by a guest

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