Poetry is arguably the most democratized art form. It is written by the common man, for the common man. As a result, it becomes an effective means of expressing feelings of nationalism that reside in the deep consciousness of the common man, but are not expressed directly. Identifying with a piece of poetry of a nationalistic nature brings these feelings to the forefront and has the ability to create a wave of greater national awareness and consciousness. Such ideas can be reflected in A Nation's Strength, written by Ralph Waldo Emerson. To better understand the strength of a nation and how it allows the poetic voice to unify with the national consciousness, it is essential to understand Emerson's background, as many shades of his ideologies insidiously make their presence felt in the poem. Emerson studied at the famous Harvard College in Boston and had a long association with the Church, which continued until the death of his beloved wife, Ellen. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay After her death, he could no longer bring himself to have unconditional faith. This seed of doubt sown in his mind preceded his role in creating the transcendentalism movement. Coming to Transcendentalism, this was a movement started in the 1830s, by a group of people who were inspired by the more instinctive and intuitive approach of Romanticism as opposed to hardcore rationalism. The period of religious rationalism in the early 19th century answered many important questions people had about why the world is the way it is in a logical way, but it left people wondering: now what? What else? They believed that when humans had been blessed with the power of intuition and imagination, why waste it by deeming only rationalism the correct lens for viewing the world? The fundamental principles on which transcendentalism was based include the promotion of a relationship with God and nature, as well as the guarantee of human dignity; their belief in human dignity led many Transcendentalists to become involved in social reform movements and to fight for the rights of women and slaves. Emerson has multiple works that reflect his ideas as a transcendentalist, especially "Nature". These basic tenets of transcendentalism are woven into the foundation upon which the poem was built, and these ideas unknowingly enter the reader's consciousness as well. The poem is strategically titled “The Strength of a Nation” and this symbolism can be decoded by looking at the word Nation. . In any form of colloquial speech outside of academic contexts, the words country, nation, and state are used interchangeably. In reality, there are huge differences between the implications of each of these words and the elements that each inherently places emphasis on. The terms country and state find their foundation in largely politicized contexts. Country has historically been used to refer to land and has evolved over time to imply a distinct region united under the rule of a certain political entity. This definition of country can also be used without problems to define the term State. State is used to describe government in many contexts. Nation, however, is the most important of these three seemingly identical terms. Etymologically it derives from the Latin term "nation" which can be freely translated as people, tribe or kinship. The Latin term gave rise to the French “nacion” which means birth, place or origin. From French, the word has crept into the English vocabulary and ispositioned comfortably in the niche carved out by nation and country, although there are some key differences. In the modern context, we use nation to describe a distinct group of people who are united by a group of factors: that is, common descent, culture or language and who generally tend to inhabit a particular area of ​​land. Therefore, the term uses the similarities between people as a central idea and builds on this to enter the more political realm of these people with similarities coming together in a piece of land to form a group. The implication is political, but the ideology really is not, and has its roots in the most organic relationships between human beings in similar circumstances. The narrative Emerson weaves into the poem is political, but he deliberately titled his work “The Strength of a Nation” when he could just as easily have used State or Country; even the first case would have led to some pleasant alliteration. However, his use of the term Nation serves as a prelude to the central message he attempts to convey through his writings, which is that the people themselves are the only and most reliable source of strength in a nation, because only those who make up a nation can make it big. .The poem has six stanzas and is written in the relatively simple form abab. Literary devices have been reduced to a minimum to make the power of the message shine through. The first line is the question, “What makes the pillars of a nation stand tall?” The next line asks a similar question: what makes the “foundations” of a nation strong. The analogy to a building is interesting, considering that Emerson goes on to describe how material conditions cannot make a nation strong. The building itself may be a simple device to symbolize the construction of a structure, and not the end result itself. The next two lines talk about what makes the nation powerful enough to defeat its enemies. By linking the first stanza together, we can deduce that perhaps the poet is trying to create an image of a strong and isolated structure of a nation that cannot be violated by enemies, thus instilling in the reader a sense of pride and duty towards building a structure. The next three stanzas provide a similar crescendo to the poem's crux. They describe everything that doesn't make a nation great, and each stanza addresses a particular element that most consider extremely important or the most important factor in building a nation. successful nation. Flashes of Emerson's ideologies appear, with transcendentalist views of nature and human dignity making their presence felt. The second stanza opens with the proclamation that “It is not gold,” being the strength of the nation. The meaning of gold can be discussed here. On the surface, gold represents luxury, the ultimate status symbol. When considering status, gold could be a reference to the monarchies of ancient times where kings reigned supreme, enjoyed lavish lifestyles and unquestionable authority. In such a context, this is a clear criticism of the social structure that glorified and shone the spotlight on a few, while the majority of the population remained hidden from view. The phrase mentioned “great kingdoms” and this supports the theory that this stanza could most likely be a criticism of the ancient system of highly non-distributed development fueled by monarchy. Another way of looking at gold could be material wealth and the accumulation of assets. Material Progress: The construction of higher, more opulent structures and a more advanced consumer culture reflect development at a superficial level. They may look shiny, golden and perfect, but all it takes is a “shock ofbattle” for this carefully constructed aura of greatness to be shattered. The penultimate line of the stanza speaks of the rods of such kingdoms decked out in guilds with the rods resting on the "sinking sand" instead of the "steadfast rock." The difference in the qualities of these materials crosses a very powerful and multidimensional point. Sand cannot support any solid structure of value, as its very nature is neither smooth nor stable, and the possibility of the structure collapsing and being engulfed by sand, leaving it in a state of nothingness is quite high. Rock, on the other hand, is reliable and weatherproof no matter what conditions it faces. The poet uses the term “dwelling” to reflect this quality. In short, “gold” in all its flashy high-status glory is a mere farce when it comes to true greatness, because the very foundation on which it seeks to grow development is not solid. The first shade of transcendentalism emerges from here, with nature used as a reference point for a solid foundation. Emerson believed that man's relationship with nature was of fundamental importance; his book “Nature” is testimony to this. Dependence on nature for a foundation conveys that, ultimately, our foundation for a successful system must be organic in origin and not through the material conditions we create. Here the poet begins to incorporate a hidden commentary related to national consciousness. He begins to tell the common man that all the factors he believes are related to the greatness of a nation, are in reality mere fictions. With this, he instills in them a sense of hope that the greatness of a nation can be defined by them, and not by factors beyond their control. In this particular stanza, some of the greatest conceptions of national greatness: material wealth and monarchical power, are destroyed. The central element of the third stanza is "the sword". The sword as a symbol is quite obvious, depicting violence and bloodshed and the power gained through these means. The phrase “red dust” has an important meaning here and is undoubtedly the backbone of the entire verse. The poet describes how blood has turned stones to rust and “glory to decay.” The stones referred to could be the stones on which the edifice called the nation was built. As the blood-stained stones rust over the centuries, the red dust begins to collect. The red blood in the dust is the only sign that the empire ever existed. The term “dust” is powerful. The dust is irrelevant, irritating and should be swept away quickly. It collects on old objects that are no longer cared for and are no longer worth anything. Here too there could be a reference to nature. All the violence that people inflict on each other, all the meticulous planning and strategy to win battle after battle, is for nothing. The verse does not refer to a simple kingdom, but to an empire, meaning that its rulers clearly had considerable success with their tyrannical approach and were able to conquer many lands while shedding more and more blood with each fight. But, in the end, their empire “died” and was defeated in the battle of life itself. All that remained in the end were traces of the blood in the dust that had accumulated on the long-vanished empire. The false glory we waste time trying to achieve is of no use, because empires eventually turn to mere dust. The choice of dust to represent something so inconsequential to dust during the conception and formation of an empire may be the only thing that conquers what is left of it. Dust is a natural element, therefore themessage here is that nature will sooner or later take back everything that is reclaimed by violent means, and nothing can be done to stop it. The poet continues the underlying commentary by telling the larger population what does not make an empire great when, up until now, he is telling them without words that they can. A large number of empires have been formed by violence throughout history. There isn't one that has lasted to this day. The ancient ones, like the Mongol Empire and even the ascendant modern ones, always had their expiration date already set. Giving people food for thought by making them understand that even if they are subjected to violence and atrocities by a tyrant leader, he is gravely misguided and will ultimately fall. The second seed of doubt regarding the traditional notion of greatness is planted in the minds of readers. Stanza four is the last of the trio that explains what cannot make a nation great. The poet chooses not to deal with tangible things like gold or a tangible symbol that has devastating effects in its use like the sword, but chooses something intangible. Ironically, the selected intangible object may seem quite small and inconsequential when compared to gold and swordsmen with swords, but upon closer examination, it is the ideas in the mind that are not expressed physically but are the root cause of every other bad action. These ideas poison the mind and tell it that to be great as a nation, the only way to do it is to progress materialistically and kill all its enemies. The idea selected here is pride. Pride is the “luminous crown” that pleases such great and “sweet” nations; but in the end, God will cast down the splendor of pride's crown, and it will lie "in ashes at his feet." This verse deals a blow to what people around the world have been told for centuries to have. Those in power hide behind the veil of pride when they tell their subjects to fight wars and exploit nature for resources. Pride is a powerful drug and when you convince a group of people that having a nation they can be proud of is the most important thing you have a generation of drug addicts. Pride has been called Corona for a couple of reasons, both independent. First, the bright crown that seemed so attractive to the nations may literally be a crown and represent monarchy. Monarchies were built on people's belief that having a king or queen to represent them would ensure the building of a nation to which they were proud to belong. This journey towards building a nation that everyone is proud of may be as violent or exploitative as possible, but in the name of preserving or building one's pride, all has been forgiven. Secondly, the crown could signify that this particular virtue of pride takes precedence over both gold and the sword. That this is truly the culmination of what does not make a nation great. Ultimately, God overthrows and the empire built on pride takes its place at God's feet as humble ashes. The reference to God here is once again transcendentalist, as they believed that God was the higher power and that fostering a good relationship with God was crucial. The poet here tells the people that if they fall victim to the trap of pride, if not of nature, God himself will cause these empires to fall. This also serves as a warning not to use pride as a guiding light when considering actions that will make them great. The last two stanzas finally reveal what makes a nation great. After starting the very first verse, he begins the penultimate one by saying, “It is not gold,” but it is “only men” that can make a man great and strong..