The Test
The Test - meaning Summary
Five Lines Survive
Emerson presents a metaphor of poems being tested by wind, time, and heat to show that only a few works endure. He claims most verses are winnowed away, while five lines remain pure, resilient to decay and scrutiny. The surviving lines embody a concentrated truth or clarity that resists alteration. The poem closes by directly challenging the reader to recognize which five lines have lasting value.
Read Complete AnalysesI hung my verses in the wind, Time and tide their faults may find. All were winnowed through and through, Five lines lasted sound and true; Five were smelted in a pot Than the South more fierce and hot; These the siroc could not melt, Fire their fiercer flaming felt, And the meaning was more white Than July's meridian light. Sunshine cannot bleach the snow, Nor time unmake what poets know. Have you eyes to find the five Which five hundred did survive?
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