Comparing the Message of The Rhodera, Each and All, and Hamatreya

The Message of The Rhodera, Each and All, and Hamatreya

We hear every day that we don’t appreciate nature and that we try and conquer it but I don’t think anyone actually thinks about what that means. These three combine to tell of nature and what Emerson appreciates about it. They also let nature have a "say" about what she thinks of humans.

In "The Rhodora" a simple flower makes the speaker of the poem consider his own creation. He talks of the beauty of this flower and how it rivals the rose. As Sidney stated, "Emerson was really in touch with the beauty of nature." In other words, many people in their discussion focused on the fact that these poems brought to our attention the incredible beauty of nature that we often overlook. To me, it goes much farther. Finally he states, "in my simple ignorance, suppose The self-same Power that brought me there brought you." You can almost feel the light bulb go off over the speaker’s head when he realizes that he is a part of a larger creation. He isn’t separate from this flower; the same force brought both of them to this world. He states that he was ignorant. Most of us are ignorant of the fact that we are a part of a world that is made up of interlocking parts. We consider ourselves "the top of the food chain." (In reality if a lion got hungry enough he’d eat us too.) Plants thrive off of the carbon dioxide that we produce and we thrive off of the oxygen that they produce. Nature depends upon itself. We are part of that creation, not rulers over it. The speaker here finally realizes that both man and flower were put on this earth by the same force and we depend upon each other. Nature makes him reflect upon his own creation.(This is similar to the idea brought up in the web hypertext on Nature—"most people define nature as Not-human but we are natural beings." This poem is the realization of this statement.)

In "Each and All" this idea is taken one step further. The speaker states, "Thy life to thy neighbor’s creed has lent. All are needed by each one." In other words, all parts of life depend upon other components of life. He also talks of how he removed things from nature and got them home and all of a sudden they don’t seem the way they were.