![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/The-Sphinx.jpg\")
<\/h2>\n<\/h2>\nby Ralph Waldo Emerson<\/p>\n
The Sphinx is drowsy,
\nHer wings are furled:
\nHer ear is heavy,
\nShe broods on the world.
\n“Who’ll tell me my secret,
\nThe ages have kept?\u2014
\nI awaited the seer
\nWhile they slumbered and slept:\u2014<\/p>\n
“The fate of the man-child,
\nThe meaning of man;
\nKnown fruit of the unknown;
\nDaedalian plan;
\nOut of sleeping a waking,
\nOut of waking a sleep;
\nLife death overtaking;
\nDeep underneath deep?<\/p>\n
“Erect as a sunbeam,
\nUpspringeth the palm;
\nThe elephant browses,
\nUndaunted and calm;
\nIn beautiful motion
\nThe thrush plies his wings;
\nKind leaves of his covert,
\nYour silence he sings.<\/p>\n
“The waves, unasham\u00e8d,
\nIn difference sweet,
\nPlay glad with the breezes,
\nOld playfellows meet;
\nThe journeying atoms,
\nPrimordial wholes,
\nFirmly draw, firmly drive,
\nBy their animate poles.<\/p>\n
“Sea, earth, air, sound, silence.
\nPlant, quadruped, bird,
\nBy one music enchanted,
\nOne deity stirred,\u2014
\nEach the other adorning,
\nAccompany still;
\nNight veileth the morning,
\nThe vapor the hill.<\/p>\n
“The babe by its mother
\nLies bath\u00e8d in joy;
\nGlide its hours uncounted,\u2014
\nThe sun is its toy;
\nShines the peace of all being,
\nWithout cloud, in its eyes;
\nAnd the sum of the world
\nIn soft miniature lies.<\/p>\n
“But man crouches and blushes,
\nAbsconds and conceals;
\nHe creepeth and peepeth,
\nHe palters and steals;
\nInfirm, melancholy,
\nJealous glancing around,
\nAn oaf, an accomplice,
\nHe poisons the ground.<\/p>\n
“Out spoke the great mother,
\nBeholding his fear;\u2014
\nAt the sound of her accents
\nCold shuddered the sphere:\u2014
\n‘Who has drugged my boy’s cup?
\nWho has mixed my boy’s bread?
\nWho, with sadness and madness,
\nHas turned my child’s head?'”<\/p>\n
I heard a poet answer
\nAloud and cheerfully,
\n‘Say on, sweet Sphinx! thy dirges
\nAre pleasant songs to me.
\nDeep love lieth under
\nThese pictures of time;
\nThey fade in the light of
\nTheir meaning sublime.<\/p>\n
“The fiend that man harries
\nIs love of the Best;
\nYawns the pit of the Dragon,
\nLit by rays from the Blest.
\nThe Lethe of Nature
\nCan’t trance him again,
\nWhose soul sees the perfect,
\nWhich his eyes seek in vain.<\/p>\n
“To vision profounder,
\nMan’s spirit must dive;
\nHis aye-rolling orb
\nAt no goal will arrive;
\nThe heavens that now draw him
\nWith sweetness untold,
\nOnce found,\u2014for new heavens
\nHe spurneth the old.<\/p>\n
“Pride ruined the angels,
\nTheir shame them restores;
\nLurks the joy that is sweetest
\nIn stings of remorse.
\nHave I a lover
\nWho is noble and free?\u2014
\nI would he were nobler
\nThan to love me.<\/p>\n
“Eterne alternation
\nNow follows, now flies;
\nAnd under pain, pleasure,\u2014
\nUnder pleasure, pain lies.
\nLove works at the centre,
\nHeart-heaving alway;
\nForth speed the strong pulses
\nTo the borders of day.<\/p>\n
“Dull Sphinx, Jove keep thy five wits;
\nThy sight is growing blear;
\nRue, myrrh and cummin for the Sphinx,
\nHer muddy eyes to clear!”
\nThe old Sphinx bit her thick lip,\u2014
\nSaid, “Who taught thee me to name?
\nI am thy spirit, yoke-fellow;
\nOf thine eye I am eyebeam.<\/p>\n
“Thou art the unanswered question;
\nCouldst see thy proper eye,
\nAlway it asketh, asketh;
\nAnd each answer is a lie.
\nSo take thy quest through nature,
\nIt through thousand natures ply;
\nAsk on, thou clothed eternity;
\nTime is the false reply.”<\/p>\n
Uprose the merry Sphinx,
\nAnd crouched no more in stone;
\nShe melted into purple cloud,
\nShe silvered in the moon;
\nShe spired into a yellow flame;
\nShe flowered in blossoms red;
\nShe flowed into a foaming wave:
\nShe stood Monadnoc’s head.<\/p>\n
Thorough a thousand voices
\nSpoke the universal dame;
\n“Who telleth one of my meanings
\nIs master of all I am.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Sphinx, a mythical creature, poses philosophical questions about the mysteries of humanity and the universe that have gone unanswered over the ages. She wonders about the meaning of life, humanity’s purpose, and the secrets of nature. A poet responds optimistically, suggesting that profound love, spiritual vision, and embracing life’s dualities can provide meaning. However, the Sphinx counters that humanity is ignorant and fails to comprehend the deeper truths.<\/p>\n
The poet argues that humanity must continuously dive deeper into the unknown, seeking new understanding rather than settling for surface truths. But the Sphinx replies that humanity can never fully grasp the infinite complexity of nature. She represents the eternal mystery at the heart of existence. After this dialogue, the Sphinx transforms into various forms in nature – cloud, moon, flame, blossoms, wave – representing the manifold variety and wisdom of the natural world, with which humanity is intertwined.<\/p>\n
In the end, the poem explores humanity’s relationship to nature and the search for meaning through philosophical questioning. The Sphinx symbolizes the unknown, while the poet affirms love, imagination, and ceaseless searching as ways to catch glimpses of meaning. The poem suggests that although we may not find absolute answers, the quest itself brings meaning.<\/p>\n
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was a renowned American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement in the mid-19th century. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and attended Harvard University where he began his career as a minister before turning to writing and public speaking. Emerson became one of America’s most influential thinkers and writers, pioneering a uniquely American approach to philosophy and literature based on optimism, individualism, and harmony between humanity and nature.<\/p>\n
Some of Emerson’s most famous essays include “Self-Reliance,” “The American Scholar,” “Nature,” and “The Poet.” He gave hundreds of popular lectures across the country on a wide range of topics such as intellectual independence, the ethics of politics, and the role of scholars in society. Emerson was associated with other transcendentalists like Henry David Thoreau and Margaret Fuller who shared his belief in the mysticism of nature and individual intuition as a source of spirituality.<\/p>\n
In addition to his prolific essays and lectures, Emerson wrote over 1,800 poems characterized by their philosophical idealism and emphasis on moral and ethical principles. He traveled widely throughout Europe and Asia and incorporated ideas from Eastern philosophy into his writings. Emerson’s work had an immense influence on American literature, embodying the energetic optimism and individualism of the young nation. He died in 1882 after a prolific career advocating for human rights, critical thinking, and the betterment of society through self-culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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