Poems
Poems - meaning Summary
Steadfast Individual Integrity
Emerson's poem asserts the value of personal integrity and intellectual fellowship. The speaker asks to be remembered as someone who, despite loving humanity, never compromised his plan for fear of others' opinions. Heaven is pictured as a community of minds that can stand against the world by moral will. Closing lines note the passage of time and a fading of life's aroma while likeness endures.
Read Complete AnalysesAND when I am entombèd in my place, Be it remembered of a single man, He never, though he dearly loved his race, For fear of human eyes swerved from his plan. OH what is Heaven but the fellowship Of minds that each can stand against the world By its own meek and incorruptible will? THE days pass over me And I am still the same; The aroma of my life is gone With the flower with which it came.
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