Chapter I Society and Solitude
SEYD melted the days like cups of pearl, Served high and low, the lord and churl, Loved harebells nodding on a rock, A cabin hung with curling smoke, Ring of axe or hum of wheel Or gleam which use can…
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Category VII – Society and Solitude
Society and Solitude, not published until 1870, is comprised of lectures turned into essays that Emerson gave over many years as he toured the country. "Eloquence" and "Domestic Life," for example, were early lectures. Those interested in ethical principles will appreciate "Courage" and "Success," whereas those more interested in daily life will appreciate the remaining essays in this volume.
Vol VII – Society and Solitude (1870)
I Society and Solitude II Civilization III Art IV Eloquence  V Domestic Life  VI Farming  VII Works and Days  VIII Books  IX Clubs  X Courage  XI Success  XII Old Age
Chapter XII Old Age
ONCE more,' the old man cried, ye clouds, Airy turrets purple-piled, Which once my infancy beguiled, Beguile me with the wonted spell. I know ye skilful to convoy The total freight of hope and joy Into rude and homely nooks,…
Chapter XI Success
OUR American people cannot be taxed with slowness in performance or in praising their performance. The earth is shaken by our engineries. We are feeling our youth and nerve and bone. We have the power of territory and of seacoast,…
Chapter X Courage
So nigh is grandeur to our dust, So near is God to man, When Duty whispers low, Thou must, The youth replies, I can. PERIL around, all else appalling, Cannon in front and leaden rain, Him duty, through the clarion…
Chapter IX Clubs
YET Saadi loved the race of men, – No churl, immured in cave or den; In bower and hall He wants them all; But he has no companion; Come ten, or come a million, Good Saadi dwells alone. Too long…
Chapter VIII Books
O DAY of days when we can read! The reader and the book, – either without the other is naught. THAT book is good Which puts me in a working mood. Unless to Thought be added Will Apollo is an…
Chapter VII Works and Days
DAUGHTERS of Time, the hypocritic Days, Muffled and dumb like barefoot dervishes, And marching single in an endless file, Bring diadems and fagots in their hands. To each they offer gifts after his will, Bread, kingdoms, stars and sky that…
Chapter VI Farming
To these men The landscape is an armory of powers, Which, one by one, they know to draw and use. They harness beast, bird, insect, to their work; They prove the virtues of each bed of rock, And, like the…
Chapter V Domestic Life
I REACHED the middle of the mount Up which the incarnate soul must climb, And paused for them, and looked around, With me who walked through space and time. Five rosy boys with morning light Had leaped from one fair…