from \"wealth Ralph Waldo Emerson\" (1803-1882). what Emerson is trying to say i
ID: 1093977 • Letter: F
Question
from "wealth Ralph Waldo Emerson" (1803-1882). what Emerson is trying to say in this poem. I don't want to know the text which you can find in internet but I want to know what he is trying to refer to in this poem. (Hint: you can check the internet to find this full article so you may understand)
Who shall tell what did befall,
Far away in time, when once,
Over the lifeless ball,
Hung idle stars and suns?
What god the element obeyed?
Wings of what wind the lichen bore,
Wafting the puny seeds of power,
Which, lodged in rock, the rock abrade?
And well the primal pioneer
Knew the strong task to it assigned
Patient through Heaven's enormous year
To build in matter home for mind.
From air the creeping centuries drew
The matted thicket low and wide,
This must the leaves of ages strew
The granite slab to clothe and hide,
Ere wheat can wave its golden pride.
What smiths, and in what furnace, rolled
(In dizzy aeons dim and mute
The reeling brain can ill compute)
Copper and iron, lead, and gold?
What oldest star the fame can save
Of races perishing to pave
The planet with a floor of lime?
Dust is their pyramid and mole:
Who saw what ferns and palms were pressed
Under the tumbling mountain's breast,
In the safe herbal of the coal?
But when the quarried means were piled,
All is waste and worthless, till
Arrives the wise selecting will,
And, out of slime and chaos, Wit
Draws the threads of fair and fit.
Then temples rose, and towns, and marts,
The shop of toil, the hall of arts;
Then flew the sail across the seas
To feed the North from tropic trees;
The storm-wind wove, the torrent span,
Where they were bid the rivers ran;
New slaves fulfilled the poet's dream,
Galvanic wire, strong-shouldered steam.
Then docks were built, and crops were stored,
And ingots added to the hoard.
But, though light-headed man forget,
Remembering Matter pays her debt:
Still, through her motes and masses, draw
Electric thrills and ties of Law,
Which bind the strengths of Nature wild
To the conscience of a child.
Explanation / Answer
Ralph Waldo Emerson in the poem "Wealth" is practically describing the evolution and creation of the Earth. Alongside that he is also telling us about the progression of mankind and the structures we have built. He expresses the progression of mankind in lines such as, "The granite slab to clothe and hide","Then temples rose, and towns, and marts", "Then docks were built, and crops were stored". As for the evolution of the Earth and it's creation he tells us that a long time ago the Earth was a lifeless place with the possibility of no star around it, "Far away in time, when once,"Over the lifeless ball, Hung idle stars and suns?". The main objective of his poems is basically to show the progression of events from Earth's creation to man's building of complex structures.
Hope this helps, best of luck.
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