Des Dichters Dilemma: Ralph Waldo Emerson und der mexikanisch-amerikanische Krieg

Abstract

In his “Ode: Inscribed to W. H. Canning” Emerson tries to justify his judicious attitude in political matters. The outbreak of the Mexican-American war is presented as a challenge to his idea of the poet and the seer. The arguments attributed to Channing can easily be shown as doubts concerning Emerson’s own role which he had entertained for a long time and entrusted to his journals. The poet as visionary and prophet of a Utopian society has to develop a theory of history which implies a necessary progress towards the salvation of mankind. The very disorder of the body politic, which seems to invalidate his idea of progress and a responsible conduct of life, is then interpreted as a necessary but minor incident in the overall pattern of history. The romantic poet confronted with the political evils of his day faces a real dilemma: responsible action as a citizen or adherence to the visionary ideal of ultimate historical truth. In 1846 Emerson was not yet ready to relinquish the role of the seer and be a partial and a representative man, a citizen and a poet at the same time.