The Visit
The Visit - meaning Summary
Encounter Defined by a Glance
Emerson’s poem considers human encounters as natural units with their own measure: the visit is defined by the meeting of the eyes. A single glance can convey long experience, transfer feeling, and determine the proper duration of social or intimate exchange. The poem treats sight as a swift natural force that both enables understanding and demands timing; linger beyond the moment and affection turns to repulsion or regret.
Read Complete AnalysesAskest "How long thou shall stay?" Devastator of the day! Know, each substance and relation Thorough nature's operation, Hath its unit, bound, and metre, And every new compound Is some product and repeater, Product of the early found. But the unit of the visit, The encounter of the wise, Say what other metre is it Than the meeting of the eyes? Nature poureth into nature Through the channels of that feature. Riding on the ray of Sight, More fleet than waves or whirlwinds go, Or for service or delight, Hearts to hearts their meaning show, Sum their long experience, And import intelligence. Single look has drained the breast, Single moment years confessed. The duration of a glance Is the term of convenance, And, though thy rede be church or state, Frugal multiples of that. Speeding Saturn cannot halt; Linger,— thou shall rue the fault, If Love his moment overstay, Hatred's swift repulsions play.
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