Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Past
The debt is paid, The verdict said, The Furies laid, The plague is stayed, All fortunes made; Turn the key and bolt the door, Sweet is death forevermore. Nor haughty hope, nor swart chagrin, Nor murdering hate, can enter in. All is now secure and fast; Not the gods can shake the Past; Flies-to the adamantine door Bolted down forevermore. None can re-enter there,-- No thief so politic, No Satan with a royal trick Steal in by window, chink, or hole, To bind or unbind, add what lacked, Insert a leaf, or forge a name, New-face or finish what is packed, Alter or mend eternal Fact. |
During the time of Ralph Waldo Emerson transcendentalism was the life of the world. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a transcendentalist while also using blank verse. Emerson believed that the meaning of existence was found by exploring the natural world. This dealt with his spiritual connectedness to the universe. Emerson believed on self-reliance as well. Exhorting readers to avoid blindly conforming to ideas and behaviors dictated by society or peers. This urges people to think and act independently.