Word: emersonian
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...scientific, has assumed some strange configurations. There is the essentially Marxist-inspired vision of poetry as the picture of life after the Revolution; the poet, as Party servant, illustrates prophecies, bringing the dreamers' vision alive for the toiling workers. The same impulse can be detected in the Emersonian vision of the poet as the "head" atop the shoulders of the state's "body," standing apart and philosophizing, essential to society in his very aloofness from its obvious daily functions. Other formulations are less accessible, less convinced, less convincing--and more frustrating, finally, for the humanist who still struggles to believe...
Kaplan's ability to establish Whitman's relationship with America, the only continuous union in his unmarried life, gives his biography an Emersonian twist. Covering the terrain of Whitman's life in about 400 pages, Kaplan repeatedly and judiciously quotes his subject's poems, prose, letters and diaries to lend his biography not only authenticity but a Whitmanesque spirit that a historical and strictly narrative book would have lacked. Thus, much of Walt Whitman: A Life is interior, approaching Whitman's experience through his own descriptions...
...prides himself on demanding the American people sacrifice in order to overcome a "vile and ruthless enemy": what he calls "our excessive dependence on foreign oil." After tediously elaborating the magnitude of this familiar threat, he finally presents his one bold idea; one which also belies his reputation for Emersonian "common sense and plain dealing." On the face of it, raising further the price of gasoline is an approach to energy-induced inflation that has little in common with common sense. Since the idea is not down-to-earth, Anderson is forced to appeal to an academic galaxy of stars...
...make it perfect for AM radio. Rod achieves an overdubbing effect early in the break by playing lines with both hands. The rest of the long break is characterized by a full sound on the organ; Argent builds by level to his climax, but does no without any (Keith) Emersonian flash or frenzy. Again, there's a smooth transition, featuring an echoed, insistent "Hold Your Head Up" chant, into the final chorus and verse...
...thing, sure, but it's also more than that. Rags's call to revolution is really more of a nostalgic attempt to return to the nineteenth century. It's a clarion call reverberating with notes of simplistic iconoclasm, Emersonian self-reliance, a Thoreauvian communion with the land, and, ironically enough, a championship of the small businessman. Spelt out in those terms, it's just not that revolutionary. More like Consciousness I in bell-bottoms. Which means that where Rags is at may be just about midway between the late Herbert Hoover and the early Yves St. Laurent...