Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States.
Poem
Why should I keep holiday,
When other men have none?
Why but because when these are gay,
I sit and mourn alone.
And why when mirth unseals all tongues
Should mine alone be dumb?
Ah! late I spoke to silent throngs,
And now their hour is come.
Analysis of the poem:
The title of this poem is very apt to its meaning and context. This poem is full of philosophy and transcendentalism.
Main idea of the poem is "balance in imbalance". Here this idea is contradict to each others. The speaker asks the question like,
"Do I have a right to be happy when others are not?"
It is also having fact that every one is not happy at the same time.
The Readers have the question that, is he talking to the reader or himself ? He also present the reality that imbalance can not be removed. This poem is having a direct question and the speaker asks it himself.
This poem is in a mood of meditation in which the speaker tries to meditate himself in the sea of full of questions regarding equality. Emerson seems to be a preacher here who shares or preaches the 'Buddhist philosophy' that every human being is unique and no one is superior or inferior. This uniqueness makes all human being equal otherwise there is no equality among people because every one is different in their own fields that is why they are unique. Though, all possess dissimilarities, their dissimilarity make them all different and this is their uniqueness.
The writer has used figurative language in this poem. In which he bifurcate two things, one side there is individual and on the another side the society itself. The very direct question makes that whole poem that is
"What do you mean when you say
You are not equal to someday?"
He intentionally uses the word ALONE in the line
"I sit and mourn alone".
He does not use lonely but rather alone to spread his ides but nobody will believe or accept this idea that is why he is all alone.
In the second stanza he says
"And why when mirch unseals all tongues".
He is freely sining his ideas with regard to uniqueness. He sings about the mirth or joy. Indirectly the speaker makes the reader aware of the fact that when you wish to be equal to some one means you are hating your own position or status and want to be equal to that person's position. Every person has his/her own talent which others do not have.
What becomes more important here is satisfaction what matters here is one's work and how the way one works those who are satisfied their needs have been fulfilled They are happy because the period of happiness short live. Emerson's poem does not have poetic qualities but philosophical one and this poem is not an except in this position. Does not give you equality or happiness.
The Indian philosophy of 'KARMA' is very applicable here. In this short poem the speaker makes every one equal by saying that we are not equal and this is how it make's every one equal. Thus, all have this kind of uniqueness.
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