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America is a poem in our eyes; its ample geography dazzles the imagination, and it will not wait long for metres.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Emerson perceives America as a living poem filled with natural beauty and vastness that inspires creativity.

Ralph Waldo Emerson suggests that America embodies the essence of poetry through its vast landscapes and diverse geography. He highlights how the country's beauty captivates the imagination, urging that such a wonder cannot be confined to traditional forms of artistic expression. Instead, it calls for spontaneous admiration and creative interpretation as America continually unfolds its grandeur, inviting all to witness its lyrical nature.

Themes

AmericaPoetryGeographyImaginationBeautyCreativity

In practice

Example use cases

A writer may quote Emerson during a literary festival to emphasize the relationship between nature and creativity.

More from Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is plain that there is no separate essence called courage, no cup or cell in the brain, no vessel in the heart containing drops or atoms that make or give this virtue; but it is the right or healthy state of every man, when he is free to do that which is constitutional to him to do.
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Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.
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The world belongs to the energetic.
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Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
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