[SunkenCiv]

Nice!

[poconopundit]

Glad you liked it, SunkenCiv. Though his mind is fixed on the heroism evident in his time [mid 19th century], Emerson elevates himself above other commentators by adding a poetic tone that raises the discussion to universal truth.

Imagine H. L. Mencken, the Terror of Baltimore, writing a speech after visiting the local pub and drinking a quart of ale.  That's the net effect!

Shortly after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, Emerson penned these words about Lincoln:

The weight and penetration of many passages in [Lincoln's] letters, messages and speeches, hidden now by the very closeness of their application to the moment, are destined hereafter to wide fame.

What pregnant definitions; what unerring common sense; what foresight; and, on great occasion, what lofty, and more than national, what humane tone!

His brief speech at Gettysburg will not easily be surpassed by words on any recorded occasion.

April 1865