The Full Text of “The Rhodora”
On Being Asked, Whence Is the Flower?
1In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
2 I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
3 Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
4 To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
5 The purple petals fallen in the pool
6 Made the black water with their beauty gay;
7 Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
8 And court the flower that cheapens his array.
9 Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
10 This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
11 Tell them, dear, that, if eyes were made for seeing,
12 Then beauty is its own excuse for Being;
13 Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
14 I never thought to ask; I never knew;
15 But in my simple ignorance suppose
16 The self-same power that brought me there, brought you.
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“The Rhodora” Introduction
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Written by American philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1834, "The Rhodora" celebrates the beauty of nature and suggests that people can connect with God by communing with the natural world. The poem's speaker comes across a flowering rhodora bush in the woods, whose beauty seems to brighten the otherwise drab, dreary landscape. The image leads the speaker to reflect on both the healing power and spiritual significance of nature, concluding that the bush, like the speaker, was placed there by God.
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“The Rhodora” Summary
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Written in response to the question, where did the flower come from?
In May, when the only sound that cut through our loneliness was the howling wind over the sea, I found a beautiful Rhodora bush in the woods, blooming in a damp, secluded corner and brightening up the barren landscape and a nearby, slow-moving brook. Some of the flower's purple petals had fallen into a puddle, and their beauty made the black water seem more cheerful. A red cardinal might come here to cool off in the water and flirt with the flower, whose beauty makes even the bird's bright feathers seem cheap and dull. Rhodora! If wise men ask you what point your beauty serves out here in the woods, with only the earth and sky to witness it, tell them, dear, that just like people's eyes are made for observing the world, beauty is valuable for its own sake. It never occurred to me to ask why you, a flower whose beauty rivals that of the rose, were there in the woods; I never knew why. But, in my humble opinion, I assume that the same higher power that placed me here also placed you in my path.
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“The Rhodora” Themes
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The Value of Beauty for Beauty's Sake
Ralph Waldo Emerson's "The Rhodora" celebrates the loveliness of the humble flower of the poem's title. The poem's speaker comes across a rhodora bush (a kind of flowering shrub) while taking a walk and describes how its immense beauty enhances its rather bleak surroundings. While wise men might wonder what higher purposes its beauty serves, the speaker muses that it doesn't matter; the rhodora is beautiful, and that is reason enough for it to exist. Beauty, this poem suggests, is valuable for its own sake.
The speaker spends the poem's first half emphasizing the rhodora's remarkable beauty. Even a bird with red feathers can't compete with the flower's "fresh," brightly-colored petals, which the speaker declares rivals those of the more famous rose.
So beautiful is the rhodora, in fact, that it has the power to brighten the dreary landscape in which it grows. The flower "pleases" the "sluggish brook," for example, its "purple petals" making the "black water with their beauty gay" (that is, happy). In other words, the rhodora's beauty transforms and delights this otherwise austere setting. It follows, then, that this beauty is something worth valuing and celebrating.
The poem builds on this idea in its second half, when the speaker addresses the rhodora directly. The speaker anticipates that "sages," or wise men, may one day ask the flower why its beauty is "wasted on the earth and sky." The speaker knows that some may question what point the flower serves out there in the woods, where no one's around to witness its loveliness. This question also suggests that some may question the value of something as "earthly" or secular as the beauty of a flower, especially in comparison to spiritual pleasures or pursuits.
In response, the speaker instructs the flower to say that "if eyes were made for seeing, / Then beauty is its own excuse for Being." Beauty, the speaker believes, doesn't need some external reason to exist. In these lines, the speaker succinctly sums up the central tenet of a philosophy known as aestheticism: that beauty is valuable simply for its own sake, without needing to serve some broader ethical or spiritual purpose.
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The Divinity of Nature
Upon coming across a beautiful, blooming rhodora bush while out for a walk, the speaker of "The Rhodora" attempts to answer the question, "whence is the flower?" That is, they wonder where the flower, which stands out so starkly against an otherwise bleak landscape, came from. Ultimately, the speaker decides that they may never truly know the answer to this question. However, they speculate that the flower, like the speaker themselves, has been placed there by God. In doing so, the speaker implies that nature is itself divine—and that human beings can thus find a healing, nourishing connection to God by enjoying nature's beauty.
The speaker concludes the poem by saying that whichever "self-same power" brought the speaker to the woods also placed the rhodora in their path. In other words, the speaker believes that God is responsible for bringing the speaker and the rhodora together. In fact, the speaker implies that man and nature are kindred spirits in the sense that they are both God's creations.
The speaker thus feels a deep connection with the rhodora, which they address directly like a friend and call "dear." The speaker had earlier lamented their "solitude," but the rhodora appears as a divinely-gifted antidote to that feeling of loneliness.
The flower's effects on its surroundings, meanwhile, mirror its positive effect on the speaker. For example, the flower's "purple petals" make the "black water" of a nearby brook seem more cheerful and also "please the desert," brightening the dull, dreary landscape. The speaker’s depiction of the rhodora beautifying its surroundings illustrates the healing power of nature's beauty—a beauty that the speaker ultimately attributes to God. It follows that people can seek God through communion with the natural world.
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Rhodora”
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Before Line 1, Line 1
On Being Asked, Whence Is the Flower?
In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,The poem has a subtitle that reveals its context: the speaker is writing "The Rhodora" in response to the question "whence is the flower"—meaning, "where did the flower come from?"
The first line of "The Rhodora" then establishes the poem's setting and mood. The speaker notes that it's May and that they're somewhere near the sea. Right away, this setting seems pretty bleak: the harsh "sea-winds pierce[]" the speaker's "solitudes." The sibilance of "sea-winds," "pierced," and "solitude" mimics the hiss of those winds, which seem to send a cold chill through the line.
Note how the speaker uses the plural first person here, mentioning "our" solitudes. This is the only time in the poem that the speaker does this. After this first line, they'll use the singular "I" to refer to themselves. This gives readers some insight into the speaker’s identity and worldview: "our solitudes" suggests not only that the speaker feels lonely and isolated, but that they believe this feeling is somewhat universal—a state afflicting others around this time of year as well.
This first line is written in iambic pentameter: five poetic feet called iambs, which follow an unstressed-stressed syllable pattern:
In May, | when sea- | winds pierced | our sol- | itudes,
It's possible to scan the third foot here as a spondee (two stressed beats in a row, "winds pierced"), but this is a minor variation that doesn't disrupt the overall iambic rhythm.
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Lines 2-4
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
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Lines 5-8
The purple petals fallen in the pool
Made the black water with their beauty gay;
Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
And court the flower that cheapens his array. -
Lines 9-12
Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that, if eyes were made for seeing,
Then beauty is its own excuse for Being; -
Lines 13-14
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask; I never knew; -
Lines 15-16
But in my simple ignorance suppose
The self-same power that brought me there, brought you.
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“The Rhodora” Symbols
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The Rhodora
Throughout the poem, the speaker praises the rhodora's beauty and its ability to brighten its surroundings. The rhodora is a real presence in the poem, but its beauty also comes to more broadly represent the beauty and divinity of the natural world.
The speaker repeatedly emphasizes the rhodora's loveliness and the effect this loveliness has on the landscape. The flower "please" and makes "gay" the nearby brook, for example. The flower even has the ability to cheer up the speaker, who initially complains about their "solitude" but later finds a sort of spiritual kinship with the flower and addresses the blossom as one would a friend. The flower's interaction with its surroundings and the speaker symbolizes the healing power of nature's beauty.
And this beauty, the speaker concludes, ultimately comes from God; God brought both the speaker and the flower to this spot in the woods. In connecting with the flower, the speaker is also connecting with God.
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“The Rhodora” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Personification
"The Rhodora" is filled with personification as the speaker repeatedly grants human characteristics to various aspects of nature. All this personification supports one of the poem's central arguments: that human beings and nature are kindred spirits because they are both God's creations.
The speaker personifies nature for the first time in line 4, describing the rhodora as "pleasing" the landscape and the nearby "sluggish" brook. The rhodora's petals also make "the black water" of a puddle (or perhaps that same brook) "gay," or happy. By attributing human emotions to their natural surroundings, the speaker illustrates the healing power of the rhodora's beauty.
Of course, this also might be read as an example of pathetic fallacy—as the speaker projecting their own emotions onto the landscape. Still, the language brings the environment to life, emphasizing that people may find a sense of fulfillment and connection by engaging with the natural world.
The speaker also personifies a bird to show that even some of nature’s most beautiful creations cannot compare to the rhodora. The "red-bird" in line 8 attempts to "court," or woo, the rhodora, but the flower petals outshine the bird's own "array" of red feathers.
Finally, the speaker treats the rhodora itself as remarkably human-like throughout the poem. The speaker addresses the flower directly several times through apostrophe and instructs the rhodora to defend itself against sages who question the larger purpose of its beauty. The speaker treats the rhodora like a being with will and agency because, on a certain level, the speaker views them as equals. Both come from God, and the speaker thus feels intimately connected to the flower.
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Apostrophe
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Alliteration
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Imagery
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“The Rhodora” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Whence
- Rhodora
- Desert
- Gay
- Red-bird
- Plumes
- Array
- Sages
- Why thou wert there
- Self-same power
Whence-
From where. The speaker is asking where the rhodora came from.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Rhodora”
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Form
"The Rhodora" consists of 16 lines arranged into a single stanza. It can also be broken up into four quatrains, or four-line stanzas.
Although the poem uses a traditional meter and rhyme scheme (more on that in a bit), it doesn't fit into a typical poetic form. In many ways, however, the poem looks like a sonnet:
- It's written in iambic pentameter with a formal rhyme scheme.
- It's an ode to natural beauty.
- It contains a volta, or a turn of thought, in line 9, as is typical in a Petrarchan sonnet. Here, the speaker directly addresses the rhodora for the first time and shifts from describing the landscape to reflecting on the spiritual significance of beauty.
Sonnets have 14 lines, whereas "The Rhodora," again, has 16. It thus nods to the sonnet form without following it precisely.
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Meter
"The Rhodora" uses iambic pentameter. An iamb is a poetic unit made of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, and pentameter means that there are five of these units per line (for a total of 10 syllables). Here's line 2 as an example:
I found | the fresh | Rhodo- | ra in | the woods,
This meter fills the lines with steady, predictable music that evokes the flower's beauty and charm. Emerson does occasionally stray from this pattern for emphasis, however, as in line 3:
Spreading | its leaf- | less blooms | in a | damp nook,
This line begins with a trochee, or a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one. This subtly calls attention to the rhodora's power, as the "Spreading" of its petals disrupts the poem's expected meter. The line then ends with a pyrrhic (two unstressed syllables) followed by a spondee (two stressed syllables). This, in turn, calls attention to the flower's damp, dark surroundings.
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Rhyme Scheme
The first quatrain of "The Rhodora" consists of two sets of rhyming couplets, creating an AABB rhyme scheme. The next quatrain follows a CDCD pattern, in which the first line rhymes with the third and the second line rhymes with the fourth. The third quatrain follows the couplet pattern, while the final quatrain returns to the alternating rhyme pattern. As a result, the full rhyme scheme looks like this:
AABB CDCD EEFF GHGH
Each letter above represents a rhyme sound, while the colors reflect the pattern of those sounds.
There is one slant rhyme, when Emerson rhymes "solitudes" with "woods" in lines 1-2. Most of these end rhymes are perfect, however, in turn filling the poem with clear, steady music.
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“The Rhodora” Speaker
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The poem's speaker is someone taking a walk in the woods, where they stumble across the flower of the poem's title. When the poem begins, the speaker is feeling lonely; they note that the "sea-winds pierce[] our solitudes." The use of the plural pronoun "our" might suggest that the speaker believes that many other people share in this loneliness.
The speaker's initial descriptions of a dull and harsh landscape might suggest that they're feeling down or bitter about the world. But by the end of the poem, the speaker’s tone is reverent as they focus only on the rhodora, divinity, and beauty. The speaker feels a kinship with the flower, which makes the speaker feel less alone and brings the speaker closer to God.
Readers never learn the speaker's age or gender. That said, it's fair to interpret the speaker as Ralph Waldo Emerson himself. Emerson was a leader in the Transcendentalist movement, which championed the power of the individual and the divinity of the natural world.
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“The Rhodora” Setting
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"The Rhodora" takes place on a day in May as the speaker walks through the woods. At first, the speaker's descriptions of the setting make the landscape seem dark and dull. The speaker mentions piercing winds blowing off the ocean, a "sluggish brook," and a pool of "black water." By depicting the setting as dreary, the speaker leaves room for the beauty of the rhodora to stand out against and even brighten its surroundings. The juxtaposition of the bleak setting and the beautiful rhodora serves to make the flower seem that much more otherworldly and divine.
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Literary and Historical Context of “The Rhodora”
Literary Context
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote "The Rhodora" in 1834. This was just two years before he published one of his most famous essays, Nature, in which Emerson detailed the beliefs that would form the foundation of the philosophical and artistic movement known as Transcendentalism.
Transcendentalists championed the power of the individual, the importance of self-reliance, the basic goodness of humanity, and the divinity of the natural world. Transcendentalism was heavily influenced by the European Romantic movement across the pond, which valued the awe-inspiring beauty of nature as well as intuition and emotion.
Emerson was familiar with the works of and even met Romantic poets such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. While he shared the Romantics' appreciation for nature, however, Emerson's writing and philosophy were relatively radical. He believed that everyone and everything was connected to God and thus inherently divine, a departure from more traditional views of spirituality at the time. Such beliefs are hinted at in "The Rhodora," where the speaker finds kinship with a humble flower based on the fact that they come from the "self-same power."
As the figurehead of the Transcendentalist movement, Emerson had a lasting impact on generations of American writers. Most notably, he became a mentor to Henry David Thoreau of Walden fame.
Historical Context
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote "The Rhodora" during a tumultuous time in U.S. history, which helped shape his personal beliefs and philosophies. Like its cousin Romanticism, Transcendentalism was in part a response to the Industrial Revolution of the late 1700 and early 1800s. While new technologies made manufacturing processes more efficient, they also led to the increasing urbanization of society, ecological destruction, and the devaluation of human labor. The rise in factory work specifically created major problems with overcrowding and pollution.
Both movements also grew in response to the Age of Enlightenment's intense focus on reason (as opposed to emotion and intuition) and scientific inquiry.
Finally, it's worth noting that the U.S. was expanding rapidly in the 1830s as Americans began to migrate west into land acquired by the Louisiana Purchase. This westward expansion fostered, in some, a newfound appreciation and respect for nature as they faced the unfamiliar territory of the midwest. Of course, this westward expansion also demonstrated nature's brutality, as thousands died during their treks through the wilderness.
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More “The Rhodora” Resources
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External Resources
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Transcendentalism — Learn more about the philosophical and artistic movement Emerson led.
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Emerson's Life and Work — Read a short biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson at Poets.org.
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The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a recording of the poem.
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See the Rhodora — Learn more about, and see some photographs of, the flowering shrub that inspired this poem.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson
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