Analysis

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Hypophora

Throughout his essay “Friendship,” Emerson employs hypophora, asking rhetorical questions and then immediately providing answers to them. In answering the questions he has posed, Emerson creates a cathartic effect in which readers are given immediate solutions and ideas to ponder. Emerson further appeals to the audience’s emotions through the content of his rhetorical questions.

  • For example, Emerson asks, “What is so pleasant as these jets of affection which make a young world for me again?” The question invites readers to think more deeply about the satisfaction that friendships can bring. It also evokes the feeling of the world being “young” or new again.

Emerson appeals to the audience’s emotions again in explaining the happiness that affection for friends can bring. Last, since “Friendship” lacks a defined narrative or storyline, the use of hypophora acts as a guide for Emerson’s thought process.

Hypothetical Letter

Nearly midway through “Friendship,” Emerson inserts a short, hypothetical letter. By inserting this letter, Emerson gives readers a grounded example in an otherwise abstract essay. The letter shows the thought process of a person’s searching for a friend.

Before the short letter, Emerson has established that developing friendships is an unsure process that can easily be misconstrued by our own emotions. The letter then provides a succinct, inside view into the unsurety of friendship and the potential for a lack of understanding between people. In the sign-off for the letter, Emerson writes “Thine ever, or never.” This paradox points to the fluctuating and changing nature of friendship. The letter writer sees the possible futures of a potential friendship.

Allusion

Emerson makes use of several allusions in his essay “Friendship.” An allusion is an indirect reference to points of historical or cultural significance.

  • Emerson alludes to Apollo and the Muses when describing the love-filled and euphoric creativity his friendships have provided him. Apollo is the god of the sun, poetry, music, and truth, whereas the Muses are the nine goddesses of artistic inspiration. By alluding to these divine figures in Greek mythology, Emerson highlights the creative spirit his friends lend to him.
  • The phrase “crush the sweet poison of misused wine” alludes to John Milton’s Comus (1634), a masque about chastity, self-control, and virtue in the face of temptation. Here, Emerson uses this quotation to show that to indulge in “affections” can lead to idolatry and an overall misunderstanding of one’s friends. The quote then points to a need for self control in the face of friendship.
  • Another quote that Emerson uses is from Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592), a philosopher of the French Renaissance. Montaigne writes, "I offer myself faintly and bluntly to those whose I effectually am, and tender myself least to him to whom I am the most devoted." Montaigne’s formulation elucidates the paradox of tenderness in friendship: one is often the least tender to one’s closest friends. Emerson uses the quote to explain the paradoxical love behind friendship: that the good and true friends are kept distant, and new of shallow friends are treated with indulgent affection.
  • Last, Emerson includes a quote from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 25. He quotes lines 9–12, which describe how a warrior’s victories are forgotten or sullied by one defeat. Emerson alludes to this sonnet to highlight how one low-quality friendship can sully other, more meaningful friendships.
  • Another allusion is the “Egyptian skull at our banquet.” The “Egyptian skull” refers to a short story called “The Dinner of the Seven Wise Men” by Plutarch. In the story, the men place a skeleton at the table as they dine to remind them of the inevitability of death. This allusion highlights...

(This entire section contains 1382 words.)

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  • Emerson’s next formulation of ideas, as he then posits that every person will spend their life in search of friendship—an action that is seemingly innate and true of all humans.
  • The last allusion Emerson makes permeates through most of his essay and can be found in his other essays, such as “Nature,” as well. He alludes to naturlangsamkeit, which is a concept developed by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. This concept outlines the slowness and deliberateness of nature; for Emerson, the development of a friendship should be just as slow, deliberate, and natural.

Overall, the allusions that Emerson employs in his essay “Friendship” work to historically and culturally ground his argument and ideas.

Metaphors and Similes

Emerson makes use of many metaphors and similes to communicate his ideas in “Friendship.” For example, Emerson uses “systole” and “diastole”—the phases of a beating heart—to describe the ebb and flow of friendship and love. This metaphor accurately represents a movement analogous to the changes of friendship. It also brings to mind the fact that a person needs their heart to live—similarly, a person needs friendships to live spiritually. Further, the heart metaphor brings to mind the idea of love and affection, which is often represented by the heart. Emerson’s metaphor here works to support his assertion that friendship must flow back and forth between distance and closeness—mimicking the inward and outward flow of blood in a human heart. Another heart-related metaphor is Emerson’s use of the “tough fibre of the human heart” as symbolic of the strength of friendship. Again using the human heart as a reference point, Emerson creates a visceral and tangible image of friendship.

Emerson also uses several nature-based metaphors. Emerson claims that friendship based on only affection “yields no fruit,” meaning that overall, friendships not made of a stronger essence will give a person little or nothing in return. Emerson extends this metaphor later on, claiming that most people will make friends with those who are easy and quick to attain. He compares these fast friends to being “the slowest fruit in the garden of God,” showing that we pick friends before they have “ripened” or are ready for a true friendship. Emerson also invokes imagery of water in relation to friendship. When describing multiple people conversing, Emerson warns readers to “not mix waters too much,” meaning that too many people together will create something impure. Another nature metaphor can be seen when Emerson compares friends to “flowers” and their individual personalities to “aromas.” Emerson’s use of nature in his writing hearkens to his nature-based philosophies and places his argument in natural, visual imagery.

Last, Emerson uses similes to increase the impact of his essay. In the beginning of his essay, Emerson compares human selfishness to “chills like east winds.” The concept of “east winds” may elicit images of cold or harsh environments. The simile here works to portray an aspect of human nature in a remote, unfriendly light. However, Emerson follows this simile with another, more positive one, claiming that humans are also bathed in a “love like a fine ether.” Here, Emerson is comparing the love and affection humans are capable of to “ether,” which is a chemical element once believed to fill the “heavens” or upper regions of space. The use of “ether” evokes a nebulous and floating image of love.

Other similes Emerson uses relate to the human soul:

  • He posits that friendship is like the “immortality of the soul.” In comparing friendship to immortality, Emerson suggests that a person is inclined to view friendship as greater than it actually is. This idolization of friendship and wish for a connection with another person is based on an internal need to affirm one’s self. Due to this, a person will imagine a friend to be greater than she is. Emerson claims that the only way to avoid idolizing a friend is to keep a distance that maintains one’s individuality.
  • Emerson compares the soul to a tree, stating that the soul “puts forth friends” as the tree grows leaves. This simile points out the inevitable growth and change that humans will go through, as well as the ebbs and flows of friendships that coincide with that growth.

Last, Emerson compares friends to books. This evokes an image of friends as those who are kept distant—such as books left on a shelf—but are also kept close, cherished, and visited when needed. Emerson wishes to point out that a good friendship is one that requires space and individuality. By comparing friends to books, he creates an easy to understand image of simultaneous distance and closeness.

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