{"id":533,"date":"2010-06-06T04:09:07","date_gmt":"2010-06-06T04:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/?p=533"},"modified":"2010-06-06T04:09:07","modified_gmt":"2010-06-06T04:09:07","slug":"the-world-soul-by-ralph-waldo-emerson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/the-world-soul-by-ralph-waldo-emerson\/","title":{"rendered":"The World-Soul by Ralph Waldo Emerson"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 ? 1882)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

The World-Soul<\/h2>\n

by Ralph Waldo Emerson<\/em><\/p>\n

\nThanks to the morning light,
\nThanks to the foaming sea,
\nTo the uplands of New Hampshire,
\nTo the green-haired forest free;
\nThanks to each man of courage,
\nTo the maids of holy mind,
\nTo the boy with his games undaunted
\nWho never looks behind.<\/p>\n

Cities of proud hotels,
\nHouses of rich and great,
\nVice nestles in your chambers,
\nBeneath your roofs of slate.
\nIt cannot conquer folly,?
\nTime-and-space-conquering steam,?
\nAnd the light-outspeeding telegraph
\nBears nothing on its beam.<\/p>\n

The politics are base;
\nThe letters do not cheer;
\nAnd ’tis far in the deeps of history,
\nThe voice that speaketh clear.
\nTrade and the streets ensnare us,
\nOur bodies are weak and worn;
\nWe plot and corrupt each other,
\nAnd we despoil the unborn.<\/p>\n

Yet there in the parlor sits
\nSome figure of noble guise,?
\nOur angel, in a stranger’s form,
\nOr woman’s pleading eyes;
\nOr only a flashing sunbeam
\nIn at the window-pane;
\nOr Music pours on mortals
\nIts beautiful disdain.<\/p>\n

The inevitable morning
\nFinds them who in cellars be;
\nAnd be sure the all-loving Nature
\nWill smile in a factory.
\nYon ridge of purple landscape,
\nYon sky between the walls,
\nHold all the hidden wonders
\nIn scanty intervals.<\/p>\n

Alas! the Sprite that haunts us
\nDeceives our rash desire;
\nIt whispers of the glorious gods,
\nAnd leaves us in the mire.
\nWe cannot learn the cipher
\nThat’s writ upon our cell;
\nStars taunt us by a mystery
\nWhich we could never spell.<\/p>\n

If but one hero knew it,
\nThe world would blush in flame;
\nThe sage, till he hit the secret,
\nWould hang his head for shame.
\nOur brothers have not read it,
\nNot one has found the key;
\nAnd henceforth we are comforted,?
\nWe are but such as they.<\/p>\n

Still, still the secret presses;
\nThe nearing clouds draw down;
\nThe crimson morning flames into
\nThe fopperies of the town.
\nWithin, without the idle earth,
\nStars weave eternal rings;
\nThe sun himself shines heartily,
\nAnd shares the joy he brings.<\/p>\n

And what if Trade sow cities
\nLike shells along the shore,
\nAnd thatch with towns the prairie broad
\nWith railways ironed o’er??
\nThey are but sailing foam-bells
\nAlong Thought’s causing stream,
\nAnd take their shape and sun-color
\nFrom him that sends the dream.<\/p>\n

For Destiny never swerves
\nNor yields to men the helm;
\nHe shoots his thought, by hidden nerves,
\nThroughout the solid realm.
\nThe patient Daemon sits,
\nWith roses and a shroud;
\nHe has his way, and deals his gifts,?
\nBut ours is not allowed.<\/p>\n

He is no churl nor trifler,
\nAnd his viceroy is none,?
\nLove-without-weakness,?
\nOf Genius sire and son.
\nAnd his will is not thwarted;
\nThe seeds of land and sea
\nAre the atoms of his body bright,
\nAnd his behest obey.<\/p>\n

He serveth the servant,
\nThe brave he loves amain;
\nHe kills the cripple and the sick,
\nAnd straight begins again;
\nFor gods delight in gods,
\nAnd thrust the weak aside;
\nTo him who scorns their charities
\nTheir arms fly open wide.<\/p>\n

When the old world is sterile
\nAnd the ages are effete,
\nHe will from wrecks and sediment
\nThe fairer world complete.
\nHe forbids to despair;
\nHis cheeks mantle with mirth;
\nAnd the unimagined good of men
\nIs yeaning at the birth.<\/p>\n

Spring still makes spring in the mind
\nWhen sixty years are told;
\nLove wakes anew this throbbing heart,
\nAnd we are never old;
\nOver the winter glaciers
\nI see the summer glow,
\nAnd through the wild-piled snow-drift
\nThe warm rosebuds below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The World-Soul by Ralph Waldo Emerson Thanks to the morning light, Thanks to the foaming sea, To the uplands of New Hampshire, To the green-haired forest free; Thanks to each man of courage, To the maids of holy mind, To the boy with his games undaunted Who never looks behind. Cities of proud hotels, Houses…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1800s","category-ralph-waldo"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/poemeveryday\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}