Epigravitas

holmessword65 (5 hours ago):
And they talk about that in the movie. Circle of Life, he admits he eats antelope, but when he dies he becomes part of the world, the grass. Circle of Life pay attention to it. Watch the movie it explains everything.

I've decided to preface this blog post with an epigraph of my own, only in true Tanner (code: lazy) style, I used a Youtube video with one of the actual comments. It is the fourth type of epigraph, creating the "epigraph effect," and is not well thought out or really even that poignant. It just sets the mood for the rest of my blog post.


Epigraphs are really awesome when well done, but in the hands of a novice feel tacked on or irrelevant (see above). I think this is why we have a tendency to skip them. In some works, however, epigraphs add a whole realm of depth to a work. For instance, my favorite novel (Blood Meridian) has three epigraphs, each strikingly different, and each adding another layer of meaning to the following work. Another fantastic epigraph is the excerpt from a Yeats poem in Things Fall Apart, which explains the title, sets a tone, displays several themes, and creates a dichotomy between the English and African. A good epigraph can spawn layers upon layers of literary criticism, and that is why we love them.

Emerson's epigraph in Circles is one of the good ones, and it is a fantastic way to summarize the themes in his following essay. More specifically, it focuses on the relationship between the temporary and the long-lasting, and how circles and spheres are perfect symbols of this relationship. Here it is:

Nature centres into balls,
And her proud ephemerals,
Fast to surface and outside,
Scan the profile of the sphere;
Knew they what that signified,
A new genesis were here.

This short poem displays three main themes to Emerson's following work: the fundamentality of circles (or spheres or balls), the fleeting nature of life, and the idea of rebirth. It is basically a poem about "the circle of life."

The subjects of the poem are the "proud ephemerals," where ephemerals here mean "temporary beings." Emerson is obviously invoking mankind (I am not trying to be sexist. I just prefer the sound of 'mankind' to 'humankind' or 'humanity'.) in this term, but his use of "ephemerals" makes the subject of this poem more broad than just people, encompassing all life on the planet. Ephemeral is most commonly used to describe plant-life, so by using such a term to describe humans, it reminds the reader that mankind is still a fleeting aspect of nature. This is highlighted very early in his essay, as at the beginning of paragraph three Emerson states, "[t]here are no fixtures in nature. The universe is fluid and volatile. Permanence is but a word of degrees." Mankind is a) a part of nature and b) very temporary. The poem and the essay help put an individual's life in perspective.

The "ephemerals" in Emerson's poem "[s]can the profile of the sphere; / [k]new they what that signified," meaning that mankind has learned to take clues from nature. Emerson (as we have thoroughly discussed) heartily believed that people get true knowledge from nature, and that through its observation we can uncover ultimate truths. The action in this poem is that people, fleeting creations of nature, uncover the mystery of the world by observing and understanding the natural world. Emerson describes this act of observation as a purification: "[c]leansed by the elemental light and wind, steeped in the sea of beautiful forms which the field offers us, we may chance to cast a right glance back upon biography." The individual purifies his or her mind by learning how to take clues from nature.

Finally in the poem, nature's lesson is revealed: "A new genesis were here." Through understanding the symbolism of circles, mankind knows that while the individual's life is fleeting, it is still important in that it begins a new cycle. The circle, ever present in nature, shows us that our actions have consequece, and are in fact amplified over time. While our lives are fleeting, the effects of our actions are not. "Every ultimate fact is only the first of a new series. Every general law only a particular fact of some more general law presently to disclose itself. There is no outside, no inclosing wall, no circumference to us." The circle of life.

Mufasa understood this and the world was prosperous; Scar did not and led the land into turmoil.