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Similes
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Explanation and Analysis:
Emerson's language overflows with literary devices, and indeed the entirety of "History" could be seen as an extended metaphor—Emerson believes that the human mind is microcosmic for the totality of human experience over history (including all of cultural production), and each portion of his essay contains new sets of similes and metaphors that all gear toward demonstrating how an individual is the schematic for all of history. His prose is lucid and careful, but at times a bit florid—one can feel his enthusiasm for and fervent belief in his own arguments.
One can perceive Emerson's passion for poetry even in his prose writing, thanks to his reliance on figurative language, and, like in many of his other essays, Emerson also begins "History" with an original poem:
There is no great and no small
To the Soul that maketh all:
And where it cometh, all things are;
And it cometh everywhere.
I am owner of the sphere,
Of the seven stars and the solar year,
Of Caesar's hand, and Plato's brain,
Of Lord Christ's heart, and Shakespeare's strain.
Emerson's poetry demonstrates a dedication to language and craft that spills over into his prose—observe the careful use of alliteration of the /s/ sound in the second stanza. Although his poetry is unquestionably more abstract than the body of his essay, it engages with the very same questions of universal patterns and individual agency.
