Manners
Manners - meaning Summary
Social Awe and Inward Retreat
Emerson portrays a solitary, timid man overwhelmed by the charm of graceful women and admired men. Confronted by beauty and social brilliance, he withdraws inward, studying the ground and finding their faces reflected in the grass rather than engaging directly. His reticence drains him of speech and composure; unable to prevail or escape, he resigns himself to a quiet, romanticized fate likened to Endymion slipping behind a tomb.
Read Complete AnalysesGrace, Beauty, and Caprice Build this golden portal; Graceful women, chosen men, Dazzle every mortal. Their sweet and lofty countenance His enchanted food; He need not go to them, their forms Beset his solitude. He looketh seldom in their face, His eyes explore the ground,-- The green grass is a looking-glass Whereon their traits are found. Little and less he says to them, So dances his heart in his breast; Their tranquil mien bereaveth him Of wit, of words, of rest. Too weak to win, too fond to shun The tyrants of his doom, The much deceived Endymion Slips behind a tomb.
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