Brahma (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Ralph Waldo Emerson
- First Published: 1857
- Type of Work: Poem
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Nature, Nineteenth century, Spiritual life or spirituality, Death or dying, Gods or goddesses, India or East Indian people, Spiritualism, Hindus or Hinduism, Life, philosophy of, Transcendentalism
Greatly influenced by a sacred text of Hinduism, Katha-Upanishad, “Brahma” is a philosophical explication of the universal spirit by that name. The poetic form of elegiac quatrain is used to represent the solemn nature of the subject. Throughout the poem, Brahma appears as the only speaker, sustaining the continuity of the work. That the spirit is the only speaker signifies not only its absolute nature but also its sustaining power, upon which the existence of the entire universe—metaphorically, the poem—is based.
The poem begins by examining the common-sensical view...
[The entire page is 641 words long]
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