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Similes
Chapter 4: Language
Explanation and Analysis:
Emerson’s style is deliberately both poetic and philosophical. He frequently utilizes poetic devices and uses flowery prose. However, he also uses several tools from philosophy: clear reasoning, genealogies (which, in philosophy, show an idea's origins), and terminology invented for clarification.
This side of Emerson’s style comes through most clearly when he discusses language:
Every word which is used to express a moral or intellectual fact, if traced to its root, is found to be borrowed from some material appearance. Right originally means straight; wrong means twisted. Spirit primarily means wind; transgression, the crossing of a line; supercilious, the raising of the eye-brow.
Related Themes:
Chapter 6: Idealism
Explanation and Analysis:
Emerson’s style is deliberately both poetic and philosophical. He frequently utilizes poetic devices and uses flowery prose. However, he also uses several tools from philosophy: clear reasoning, genealogies (which, in philosophy, show an idea's origins), and terminology invented for clarification.
This side of Emerson’s style comes through most clearly when he discusses language:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Every word which is used to express a moral or intellectual fact, if traced to its root, is found to be borrowed from some material appearance. Right originally means straight; wrong means twisted. Spirit primarily means wind; transgression, the crossing of a line; supercilious, the raising of the eye-brow.
Related Themes:
