Interactive Literature Selections The Rhodora

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The Rhodora

Ralph Waldo Emerson

During Reading Strategy
Continue to Create Mind Pictures

On Being Asked, Whence¹ Is the Flower?

	In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
	I found the fresh Rhodora² in the woods,
	Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
	To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
5	The purple petals, fallen in the pool,
	Made the black water with their beauty gay;

	Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
	And court the flower that cheapens his array.
	Rhodora! if the sages³ ask thee why
10	This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
	Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
	Then Beauty is its own excuse for being:
	Why thou wert there,⁴ O rival of the rose!
	I never thought to ask, I never knew;
15	But, in my simple ignorance, suppose
	The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.

Guided Reading Question 1
Who enjoys what the flower offers?
Click to answer

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