even remotely achievable. Emerson wants his audience to consider their ideas about education more closely, and so he literally makes them the subject of this sentence: the "you" is the implied subject, as in [You] Try your design." He wants each audience member to consider this command, and he relies on their good sense to come to the realization that traditional methods of education do not work.

Then, later in the paragraph, he employs a rhetorical question, one which he has structured in such a way as to elicit a uniform response that supports his own argument. He asks of the teacher, "Besides, how can he please himself with genius and foster modest virtue?" The implied answer is, of course, that he cannot. By compelling his audience to answer in the prescribed way, Emerson moves them closer to his way of thinking.

Having thus compelled both sympathy for the teacher as well as an understanding of why traditional education cannot work, Emerson ends the paragraph with an analogy: "the gentle teacher, who wished to be a Providence to youth, is grown a martinet, sore with suspicions; knows as much vice as the judge of a police court, and his love of learning is lost in the routine of grammars and books of elements." Rather than helping his students to learn and grow, the teacher becomes, instead, a disciplinarian only. He grows suspicious of his students and becomes, rather than a guiding light to his classes, more like the judge of a police court, accustomed to suspecting and accusing. How can students then receive a good education from him? They cannot.

An allusion is reference to another work of literature or to historical events. Emerson alludes to an "eminent reformer," saying,

"his patience could see in the bud of the aloe the blossom at the end of a hundred years."

Emerson is actually poking gentle fun at this reformer for having too much patience.

An analogy or comparison of two unlike items comes when Emerson likens the teacher's desire to be helpful to his students to a teacher wanting to be "Providence [like a generous God] to youth."

A rhetorical question is one to which there is only one correct answer. It is asked for effect, not to elicit critical thought. One of these occurs in paragraph 13 when Emerson asks about the overworked teacher:

Besides, how can he please himself with genius, and foster modest virtue?

The obvious answer when the teacher has too many students is that he cannot.

An imperative sentence is a command, such as the following:

Try your design on the best school.

A command has no subject but starts with the verb.

Finally, Emerson varies sentence structure for effect by now and then inserting a short sentence into the paragraph, such as, after describing the patience and sensualism of the teacher in long sentences, he follows with a fragment and a short sentence:

Very likely. But he has something else.

This both slows us down and introduces a new subject.

Paragraph 13 of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay titled “Education” contains a number of rhetorical techniques that are effective in various ways. Examples include the following:

• Allusion. An one point, Emerson alludes to

an eminent reformer, of whom it was said “his patience could see in the bud of the aloe the blossom at the end of a hundred years.”

Although the “reformer” remains unidentified in most editions of Emerson’s essays, Emerson, by citing this authority, gives added weight to his own argument. Emerson implies that he is well read and that he has given serious thought to his topic.

• Analogy. One effective example of a use of analogy occurs when Emerson writes that a teacher hampered by unruly students “knows as much vice as the judge of a police court.” The comparison of a school (a place for education) and a court (a place for punishment) is memorable and striking, implying that these two places ideally should not resemble each other at all.
• Imperative sentences. A good example of an imperative sentence occurs when Emerson writes, “Try your design on the best school.” This sentence is effective because it is brief; it is blunt; it issues a command rather than merely making a statement; and it directly addresses the reader, thus stimulating the reader’s interest.
• Rhetorical questions. Emerson uses a rhetorical question when, discussing the frustrations of a teacher pressed for time, he asks, “how can he please himself with genius, and foster modest virtue?”

By asking a question rather than making a statement, Emerson encourages his readers to think for themselves, but he also, of course, implies the correct answer. He implicitly gives the reader credit for intelligence and good sense, because he implies that of course the reader will come to the right conclusion. The rhetorical question contributes to the sheer variety of types of sentences that Emerson uses, thus keeping his phrasing from seeming boringly predictable. In this particular case, the rhetorical question stimulates the reader to examine his own conscience and admit his own imperfections.

• Sentence variety and pacing. Consider the opening sentences of the essay:

So to regard the young child, the young man, requires, no doubt, rare patience: a patience that nothing but faith in the remedial forces of the soul can give [29 words]. You see his sensualism; you see his want of those tastes and perceptions which make the power and safety of your character [22 words]. Very likely [2 words]. But he has something else [5 words].

By creating variety in the length of his sentences, Emerson prevents them from seeming boring or monotonous. He also gives particular weight and emphasis to the short sentences. They seem especially forceful.

All in all, Emerson's use of various rhetoric devices in this essay not only helps make the essays interesting to read but also helps display, by its own example, the advantages of a good education.