The same observation could have been made with almost equal truth about
_Proverbs_, some of Bacon's _Essays_, Polonius's _Advice to Laertes_, parts
of Hamlet's _Soliloquy_, and, in general, about any condensed sentences
that endeavor to convey a complete, striking truth. Lowell remarks acutely:
"Did they say he was disconnected? So were the stars ... And were _they_
not knit together by a higher logic than our mere sense could master?" We
should look for unity and connection in Emerson's chosen subject matter and
trend of thought.
We must not forget that Emerson has in his prose as well as in his verse
many of the general characteristics of a poet. In his _Essays_, he
sometimes avails himself of the poetic license to be obscure and
contradictory and to present philosophy that will not walk on all fours.
When we examine some of the best passages on nature in his early prose
(_e.g._ p. 158), we shall find that they are highly poetical.
Much of his verse is filled with the charm of nature and shows here and
there remarkable power of putting great riches in a little room, although
there may be intervening waste spaces. Critics may say that his poetry
lacks deep feeling, that it is mostly intellectual; if so, it is nobly
intellectual.
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