Divinity School Address

Ralph Waldo Emerson uses historical allusions—an indirect reference to a historical place, person, or idea—frequently in his speech. Allusions to past religions, religious people, and deities are all present and used as examples of Emerson’s main arguments. His first allusion is to the “holy bards,” the devout men of “Palestine […] Egypt, in Persia, in India” (6). While not naming them, he is referencing the forefathers of world religions: Biblical prophets, the priests of ancient Egypt, Zoroaster, and the Buddha. In this instance, Emerson invokes the holy men to show the universality of virtue. What their intuition identified as good, so did many others who followed them.

He returns to some of these allusions later, stating that the “holy bards” followed their soul, which made them “reverend forever,” even as the nations they came from have been lost to time. Emerson also refers to other nations lost to time in his exhortation against following tradition. He references the “zodiac of Denderah, and the astronomical monuments of the Hindoos” as evidence of traditions, buildings, and systems that have been forgotten (14). These allusions together highlight Emerson’s primary point: To follow the soul brings greater meaning to religious practice, while adhering to practice and tradition for its own sake will cause religions to die out.