“Do it. Bridge the gulf well and truly from edge to edge, and the dunces will find out. There is but one verdict needful, and that is mine. If I do it I shall know it.” (Emerson 99)
Here, Emerson is touching on one of his most prevalent themes: self-reliance. By saying bridging the gap, Emerson is using the metaphor of knowledge as a bridge which carries us over the vast gap of the unknown, ignorant, or that which is not yet understood. He continues on to convey the idea that this bridge of knowledge allows dunces to comprehend that which they should not be able to or gives them the false notion of understanding that which they truly do not. It seems in fact that he does not want any information disseminated because of its ability to sway the ignorant masses. Also, he could be commenting on critiques of his works, how the dunces or critiques comment on his work yet the only verdict which matters is his own. This can also be said of his overall theme, that one should continually look inward, searching the soul for advice instead of drawing on the decisions of others, his last line indicating that the only way to truly gain insight is to do it yourself.
“If what we hate was murderable, that were some comfort. But, unhappily, no knife is long enough to reach the heart of any enemy we have” (100).
Emerson, in his greatly metaphorical writing, discusses the concepts of hate, enemy, and murder. He begins by saying that if the things we despise, such as ideologies, misconceptions, ignorance etc; were of flesh and blood and therefore tangibly accessible, it would be comforting because they could easily be defeated. However, when something exists conceptually, it cannot so easily be destroyed or contained. Because of this Emerson relays his discontent, saying how we can never truly destroy that which see as our enemy because it exists outside of the realm of tangible existence.
“Some minds are viviparous like Shakespeare and Goethe. Others are oviparous, alive though incomplete; and others like trees which leave seeds and fruits on which the living can feed” (160).
In this quote, the words viviparous and oviparous are used very interestingly. Emerson refers to Shakespeare and Goethe as viviparous, a word used in botany to describe a plant which has seeds which germinate before detaching. He uses this concept to exemplify the way that both Shakespeare and Goethe present fully formed ideas in their work, not just leaving crumbs from which the reader must decipher the larger concept. He goes on to say that other minds are oviparous, referring to plant whose seeds gestate off of the plant. This metaphor indicates that some writers put out partial ideas, leaving the reader to draw from that what they like. Emerson also uses the metaphor of minds like seeds and fruit, an ingenious way of describing the ideas of writers littered across pages, the seeds of thought from a person long-gone, taking root in the mind of the young reader.
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