Prose Passage by Ralph Waldo Emerson

In the Prose Passage, Ralph Waldo Emersons attitude towards nature is very obvious. He illustrates to the reader that he not only enjoys nature, but he is entranced and connected to it. In this passage, he also explores the differences between how adults see nature and how children see nature. Finally, he reiterates his de light and connection to nature in saying, Yet it is trusted that the power to produce this delight does not reside in nature, but in man, or in a harmony of both. Ralph Waldo Emerson was not only an intent writer of nature, but an enjoyer of its magnificent features as well. Emerson explains that there is such vastness and difference in nature that someone who visits it cant possible perpetually get tired of it. He writes, Within the plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign, a perennial festival is dressed, and the guest sees not how he should tire of them in a thousand years. Its beauty is so wonderful that being bored is inconceivable to him.To exem plify that nature evokes happiness even if a person were to be under the worst imaginable circumstances, he states, In the presence of nature a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Of course, his economic consumption is expressed when he writes, Crossing a b are common park or grassy square, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear. The strong imagery that he portrays with the puddles and clouded sky brings the reader closer to the image of nature that Emerson saw.Emerson elucidates to the fact that adults and children have very different views of the sun even though it is the same for both. He writes, Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminates only the spirit of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. Emerson gives the reader the understanding that their connection with nature is lost on their road to adulthood. However, children admire and enjoy the sun, seeing it in a different light than that with which adults see it.This is demonstrated when he says, The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. On the whole, Emersons love of nature is overwhelmingly clear in this passage. In the end, he underscores the unbroken connection between humankind and nature by writing, The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse communication with heaven and earth becomes part of his workaday food.