The Problem
September 22, 1986
A review of "The Problem" by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1840.
Copyright © 1997 Property of Deborah K. Fletcher. All rights reserved.
"The Problem" is a lyric poem, written in stanzas of rhymed couplets. It consists of four stanzas, each one longer than the last. The first is a statement of preference, ending with a question of why. The second is a sad tribute to the past. The third is a comparison of nature and religion. The fourth is a transition from past to present, ending with the statement of preference which began the first stanza.
The first stanza says that the poet likes modern religion, with its simple beauties, but that he would not be bound by formal religion. He says,
"... on my heart monastic aisles
Fall like sweet strains, or pensive smiles;
Yet not for all his faith can see
Would I that cowled churchman be."
He then goes on to ask himself, or possibly the reader, why he would not be bound.
In the second stanza, the poet begins to answer his own qquestion by saying that the Christian faith lacks the fantastic qualities of the older religions, but that it has been burned "like the volcano's tongue of flame" into the general consciousness of the people. He realizes that the churchman cannot free himself from a commitment to the formal worship of God, partly because his belief has become sincere, and partly because Christianity has changed the glorious temples of Rome in favor of cathedral domes. He says of the priest:
"He builded better than he knew: -
The conscious stone to beauty grew,"
meaning that the priest, and those before him, have built the new faith too well.
The third stanza begins by speaking of the beautiful miracles of nature, which formed the basis for the ancient religions. He speaks of the woodbird's nest, the fish, and the pine tree, saying,
"Such and so grew these holy piles,
Whilst love and terror laid the tiles."
The passage seems to refer to the beginning of Man's creation of religions. This is enforced by the next two couplets:
"Earth proudly wears the Parthenon,
As the best gem upon her zone,
And mornings opes with haste her lids
To gaze upon the Pyramids."
The stanza ends with a union between nature and the early religions.
The fourth stanza begins by stating that however strong religions have become, they cannot surpass nature, which is God's own art:
"These temples grew as grows the grass;
Art might obey but not surpass.
The passive Master ...."
It then goes on to say that all people and tribes belong equally to God, whether His word is spoken by a priest in a shrine, or by a sibyl in a grove of oak. It says that the old religions will always be remembered, because they all spoke of various accents of the Holy Spirit. It ends with the poet reiterating his feeling that he would not wish to be bound to a formal religion.
In "The Problem," Emerson has made very effective use of classical and Biblical references, giving equal time to Jove and to Peter. He referred to "awful Jove," "Peter's dome," the Parthenon, and Ararat.
Emerson used colorful, vivid language. The volcano's tongue of flame, the fiery Pentecost, and the chanting choir are typically stirring religious phrases. The third stanza, which discusses nature, paints a picture of birds, fish, pine trees, the Parthenon, and the Pyramids, all grouped together majestically with England's abbeys, Ararat, and the Andes.
The religious theme runs through the entire poem, beginning with a church in the first line and ending with a bishop in the last. It is, however, a naturalist poem, typical of the mid-nineteenth century.
The problem in "The Problem" seems to be the conceptual conflict of nature and modern religion. Emerson discusses the problem in some detail, but gives no solution to the reader.
"The Problem" is beautifully written. It flows well, and has a steady cadence. It does not tend to become a sing-song. It has a message, which is delivered clearly.
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