Some of Emerson's best social philosophy may be found in the essay,
_Considerations by the Way_, published in the volume called _The Conduct of
Life_. His _English Traits_ records in a vigorous, interesting,
common-sense way his impressions from his travels in the mother country.
The English find in this volume some famous sentences, which they love to
quote, such as,--
"That which lures a solitary American in the woods with the wish to
see England, is the moral peculiarity of the Saxon race,--its
commanding sense of right and wrong,--the love and devotion to
that,--this is the imperial trait which arms them with the sceptre
of the globe."
POETRY.--Emerson's verse is noteworthy for its exposition (1) of nature and
(2) of his transcendental philosophy. He produced a comparatively small
amount of poetry, but much more than he is popularly supposed to have
written. Some of his verse is of a high degree of excellence; in fact, his
nature poetry deserves to be ranked with the best that America has
produced. Like Bryant, Emerson loves the forest. He says:--
"I go to the god of the wood
To fetch his word to men."
In _The Poet_, we see how great he thought the poet's debt to communion
with nature:--
"The gods talk in the breath of the woods,
They talk in the shaken pine,
And fill the long reach of the old seashore
With dialogue divine;
And the poet who overhears
Some random word they say
Is the fated man of men
Whom the ages must obey.
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