Emerson's Nature

Katelin G. (United States of America)
26 words 5 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. final cause
    (philosophy) the end or purpose of a thing or process
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    Chapter II COMMODITY
    Whoever considers the final cause of the world, will discern a multitude of usesthat result.
  2. Aeolus
    god of the winds in ancient mythology
    He no longer waits for favoring gales, but by means of steam, he realizes the fable of Aeolus's bag, and carries the two and thirty winds in the boiler of his boat.
  3. ancillary
    furnishing added support
    And in common life, whosoever has seen a person of powerful character and happy genius, will have remarked how easily he took all things along with him, -- the persons, the opinions, and the day, and nature became ancillary to a man.

    3.
  4. modulate
    fix or adjust the time, amount, degree, or rate of
    The western clouds divided and subdivided themselves into pink flakes modulated with tints of unspeakable softness; and the air had so much life and sweetness, that it was a pain to come within doors.
  5. pickerel
    any of several North American species of small pike
    In July, the blue pontederia or pickerel-weed blooms in large beds in the shallow parts of our pleasant river, and swarms with yellow butterflies in continual motion.
  6. savannah
    a flat grassland in tropical or subtropical regions
    Does not the New World clothe his form with her palm-groves and savannahs as fit drapery?
  7. Thermopylae
    a famous battle in 480 BC
    When a noble act is done, -- perchance in a scene of great natural beauty; when Leonidas and his three hundred martyrs consume one day in dying, and the sun and moon come each and look at them once in the steep defile of Thermopylae; when Arnold Winkelried, in the high Alps, under the shadow of the avalanche, gathers in his side a sheaf of Austrian spears to break the line for his comrades; are not these heroes entitled to add the beauty of the scene to the beauty of the deed?
  8. Leonidas
    king of Sparta and hero of the battle of Thermopylae where he was killed by the Persians (died in 480 BC)
    When a noble act is done, -- perchance in a scene of great natural beauty; when Leonidas and his three hundred martyrs consume one day in dying, and the sun and moon come each and look at them once in the steep defile of Thermopylae; when Arnold Winkelried, in the high Alps, under the shadow of the avalanche, gathers in his side a sheaf of Austrian spears to break the line for his comrades; are not these heroes entitled to add the beauty of the scene to the beauty of the deed?
  9. commodity
    any good that can be bought and sold
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    Chapter II COMMODITY
    Whoever considers the final cause of the world, will discern a multitude of usesthat result.
  10. abdicate
    give up power, duties, or obligations
    He may divest himself of it; he may creep into a corner, and abdicate his kingdom, as most men do, but he is entitled to the world by his constitution.
  11. deify
    exalt to the position of a God
    How does Nature deify us with a few and cheap elements!
  12. Pindar
    Greek lyric poet remembered for his odes (518?-438? BC)
    Homer, Pindar, Socrates, Phocion, associate themselves fitly in our memory with the geography and climate of Greece.
  13. epitome
    a standard or typical example
    A work of art is an abstract or epitome of the world.
  14. enumerate
    specify individually
    In enumerating the values of nature and casting up their sum, I shall use the word in both senses; -- in its common and in its philosophical import.
  15. Homer
    ancient Greek epic poet who is believed to have written the Iliad and the Odyssey (circa 850 BC)
    Was there no meaning in the live repose of the valley behind the mill, and which Homer or Shakspeare could not reform for me in words?
  16. decorum
    propriety in manners and conduct
    Within these 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.
  17. divest
    take away possessions from someone
    He may divest himself of it; he may creep into a corner, and abdicate his kingdom, as most men do, but he is entitled to the world by his constitution.
  18. analogous
    similar or equivalent in some respects
    A leaf, a sun-beam, a landscape, the ocean, make an analogous impression on the mind.
  19. prodigal
    recklessly wasteful
    The misery of man appears like childish petulance, when we explore the steady and prodigal provision that has been made for his support and delight on this green ball which floats him through the heavens.
  20. aggregate
    a sum total of many heterogeneous things taken together
    By the aggregate of these aids, how is the face of the world changed, from the era of Noah to that of Napoleon!
  21. perennial
    lasting an indefinitely long time
    Within these 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.
  22. admonish
    scold or reprimand; take to task
    But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.
  23. impertinent
    improperly forward or bold
    Nature says, -- he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me.
  24. mercenary
    a person hired to fight for another country than their own
    The catalogue is endless, and the examples so obvious, that I shall leave them to the reader's reflection, with the general remark, that this mercenary benefit is one which has respect to a farther good.
  25. benefactor
    a person who helps people or institutions
    The useful arts are reproductions or new combinations by the wit of man, of the same natural benefactors.
  26. sublime
    of high moral or intellectual value
    One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime.
Created on Tue Nov 16 07:06:47 EST 2010

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