The Park
The Park - meaning Summary
Conscience Binds Amid Beauty
Emerson’s poem contrasts outward prosperity and beauty with an inward, inescapable conscience. The speaker feels morally bound despite others’ gilded appearance, sensing a divine presence reflected in his own eyes. Wealth and charm may enchant, but nature — the mountain and the ancient wood — speaks a larger moral perspective, suggesting that every life, whether loving or criminal, ultimately proceeds toward the Good.
Read Complete AnalysesThe prosperous and beautiful To me seem not to wear The yoke of conscience masterful, Which galls me everywhere. I cannot shake off the god; On my neck he makes his seat; I look at my face in the glass, My eyes his eye-balls meet. Enchanters! enchantresses! Your gold makes you seem wise: The morning mist within your grounds More proudly rolls, more softly lies. Yet spake yon purple mountain, Yet said yon ancient wood, That night or day, that love or crime Lead all souls to the Good.
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