Vol VI – Conduct of Life (1860, rev. 1876)
I Fate II Power III Wealth IV Culture V Behavior VI Worship VII Considerations by the Way VIII Beauty IX Illusions
Menu
Category VI – Conduct of Life
The Conduct of Life was first published in 1860 at the height of Emerson’s fame. The book was well received and sold very well. His English friend Thomas Carlyle said about it, “I read it a great while ago…with a satisfaction given me by the Books of no other living mortal.” Published on the eve of the Civil War, the essays are particularly important for an understanding of America just prior to her greatest challenge and threat to her survival as a nation.
Considerations
Considerations by the Way from The Conduct of Life (1860, rev. 1876) by Ralph Waldo Emerson VII: CONSIDERATIONS BY THE WAY Hear what British Merlin sung, Of keenest eye and truest tongue. Say not, the chiefs who first arrive Usurp…
IX Illusions
IX: ILLUSIONS Flow, flow the waves hated, Accursed, adored, The waves of mutation: No anchorage is. Sleep is not, death is not; Who seem to die live. House you were born in, Friends of your spring-time, Old man and young…
VIII Beauty
VIII: BEAUTY Was never form and never face So sweet to SEYD as only grace Which did not slumber like a stone But hovered gleaming and was gone. Beauty chased he everywhere, In flame, in storm, in clouds of air.…
VII Considerations by the Way
VII: CONSIDERATIONS BY THE WAY Hear what British Merlin sung, Of keenest eye and truest tongue. Say not, the chiefs who first arrive Usurp the seats for which all strive; The forefathers this land who found Failed to plant the…
VI Worship
VI: WORSHIP This is he, who, felled by foes, Sprung harmless up, refreshed by blows: He to captivity was sold, But him no prison-bars would hold: Though they sealed him in a rock, Mountain chains he can unlock: Thrown to…
V Behavior
V: BEHAVIOR Grace, Beauty, and Caprice Build this golden portal; Graceful women, chosen men Dazzle every mortal: Their sweet and lofty countenance His enchanting food; He need not go to them, their forms Beset his solitude. He looketh seldom in…
IV Culture
IV: CULTURE Can rules or tutors educate The semigod whom we await? He must be musical, Tremulous, impressional, Alive to gentle influence Of landscape and of sky, And tender to the spirit-touch Of man’s or maiden’s eye: But, to his…
III Wealth
III WEALTH Who shall tell what did befall, Far away in time, when once, Over the lifeless ball, Hung idle stars and suns? What god the element obeyed? Wings of what wind the lichen bore, Wafting the puny seeds of…
II Power
II: POWER His tongue was framed to music, And his hand was armed with skill, His face was the mould of beauty, And his heart the throne of will. Power There is not yet any inventory of a man’s faculties,…