http://poetry.eserver.org/Emerson(Sphinx).html
Analyze the ways in which this poem reflects the values of the movement with which it is affiliated.
Ralph Waldo Emerson is widely considered to be the “center of the American Transcendentalist movement.”[1] One common theme in Transcendentalist thought is the struggle to define spirituality.[2] Emerson’s poem, The Sphinx, explores both Greek and Judeo-Christian views on religion, but ultimately settles on the idea that divinity must be understood through nature.
In the poem, the Sphinx poses an ambiguous riddle about “The meaning of man.” She then goes on to say, “Known fruit of the unknown;/ Daedalion plan.” The fruit that the Sphinx refers to is the apple of knowledge, which Eve willingly picked and ate. Conversely, “Daedalion plan” alludes to the Greek myth in which the grieving Daedalion threw himself off a cliff after the Gods killed his daughter.[3] The juxtaposition of these two lines suggests that the Sphinx is questioning who or what is responsible for the fall of man: man himself or the Gods?
A poet answers the Sphinx’s riddle by saying, “To vision profounder,/ Man’s spirit must dive;/ His aye-rolling orb/ At no goal will arrive.” In essence, the poet is asserting that spirituality cannot be understood through means of observation. The Sphinx refutes his statement by saying that everything which the poet has seen and questioned has been answered with a “lie.” She urges the poet to “take thy quest through nature” and “Ask on.” The Sphinx’s emphasis on finding truth in the natural world suggests that isolation from society is necessary to better understand how and why humanity functions within it.
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