Ralph Waldo Emerson: Poem: The Rhodora

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Poem: The Rhodora

The Rhodora

THE RHODORA

On being asked, whence is the flower.

In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,

I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,

Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,

To please the desert and the sluggish brook.

The purple petals fallen in the pool

Made the black water with their beauty gay;

Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,

And court the flower that cheapens his array.

Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why

This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,

Tell them, dear, that, if eyes were made for seeing,

Then beauty is its own excuse for Being;

Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!

I never thought to ask; I never knew;

But in my simple ignorance suppose

The self-same power that brought me there, brought you.

“The Rhodora” by Ralph Waldo Emerson ponders why God creates something beautiful if no one ever sees it. By the end of the poem, Emerson seems to discover his answer to one of life’s most important questions through the rhodora. Why are we here on Earth?

The rhodora is a deciduous plant that is native to northeastern United States that bears pink flowers. The poem begins with a subheading of “On Being Asked, Whence Is the Flower?” With the subheading, Emerson establishes a question of where does the flower comes from or why is the flower here on Earth. When Emerson encounters the rhodora, it is spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook. Emerson states ‘To please the desert and the sluggish brook”. Due to the time of year, the rest of nature is not in its prime, so it appears the rhodora is blooming in a desert.  With this line, Emerson is establishing that the rhodora had no reason to bloom. The rhodora only exists for the sole purpose of pleasing the other elements of nature such as the slow moving brook.

Emerson uses the rhyme scheme of AABBCDCDEEFFGHGH. Examples of alliteration include repetitive use of the “p” sound in line 5 with ‘purple petals” and the repetitive use of the “r” sound in phrases such as “rival of the rose”.  Assonance occurs in phrasing such as “plume” and “cool” with the long “U” sound, as well as the repetition of the short “I” sound in line 15 “in simple ignorance”.

These final last lines of the poem contain its thematic meaning. The God who created both human and nature, from whence the flower came from, compels us to the flower, the very same power. The essence, the core of being, is what Emerson proposes we all strive for. Why should we ask the details of the flower, when we should be concerns with where the flower came from? Who gave the flower its essence? Seeking the essence and core meaning is what drives life. It is what brings us to wake up every morning, what brings us to have the urge to “find ourselves” day in and out.