Borges on Emerson and Whitman

I think the following two poems say volumes about Borges’ aspirations as a writer. In this collection, at least, the second poem directly follows the first.

To me, the more shocking of the two is the first one, which begins rather traditionally, by providing a rather acute summary of Emerson, who was known primarily as an essayist and philosopher who had been strongly influenced by Montaigne.

EMERSON

Closing the heavy volume of Montaigne,
The tall New Englander goes out
Into an evening which exalts the fields.
It is a pleasure worth no less than reading.
He walks toward the final sloping of the sun,
Toward the landscape’s gilded edge;
He moves through darkening fields as he moves now
Through the memory of the one who writes this down.
He thinks: I have read the essential books
And written others which oblivion
Will not efface. I have been allowed
That which is given mortal man to know.
The whole continent knows my name.
I have not lived. I want to be someone else.

The next few lines seem to capture Emerson’s love of nature, and go on to summarize his fame. Of course, it’s the last line that is completely unexpected. I’m still not sure I understand what it means, much less whether I agree with it. Since I’ve never encountered anything like it in Emerson’s own writing, I’d have to assume that that is how Borges would have felt if he had been Emerson.

Why he would feel that way seems to be suggested in

CAMDEN, 1892

The smell of coffee and the newspapers.
Sunday and its lassitudes. The morning,
and on the adjoining page, that vanity-
the publication of allegorical verses
by a fortunate fellow poet. The old man
lies on a white bed in his sober room,
a poor man’s habitation. Languidly
he gazes at his face in the worn mirror.
He thinks, beyond astonishment now: that man
is me, and absentmindedly his hand
touches the unkempt beard and the worn-out mouth.
The end is close. He mutters to himself-
I am almost dead, but still my poems retain
life and its wonders. I was once Walt Whitman.

Unlike the first poem where Emerson is revealed in the title, it’s not entirely clear that this poem is about Walt Whitman until the last line. The first poem begins on a positive note, whereas this one begins on a negative note. The man is living in “a poor man’s habitation” and appears close to death, with an “unkempt beard and the worn-out mouth./The end is close.” But he is astonishingly happy because he “was once” Walt Whitman and wrote “allegorical verses.”

I wonder if Borges would prefer to be Whitman because he senses he is more like Emerson, which certainly seems the case to me? More and more, though, I’m beginning to suspect that he’s more like Hawthorne than either of those two. His is certainly a rather dark Romanticism rather than an optimistic Transcendentalism, which might simply say that it’s nearly impossible for a modern writer to be be Transcendentalist.

5 thoughts on “Borges on Emerson and Whitman”

  1. Amazing and mysterious poems. Thanks so much for posting them today. Around the time RTN was in Vietnam in 1970, I was reading Borges. Odd how these poems remind me so much of RTN.

    You’ve inspired me to look for a copy of Borges’ THE BOOK OF IMAGINARY BEINGS. That was a favorite of mine in the early 1980s. Maybe it’s time to read it again.

    http://www.amazon.com/Book-Imaginary-Beings-Jorge-Borges/dp/0670891800

    By the way, I haven’t been able to embed YouTube videos into my blog recently either. Used to be able to.

    1. Did you find the book you sought?

      Would you read my comments about the Borges poem pair(s). These poems changed my life in about 1970. I have never spoken with anyone who knew them or how to know them. O solo mio….Ha! Well, a little, maybe…😏

      1. This is the world of blogs, where 6 years seems like ages. I’m afraid that “am” has moved on and doesn’t visit this site anymore. So, I wouldn’t expect a reply. If you click on her name I think that will take you to her site, though she doesn’t post as regularly as she used to.

  2. Borges “Remorse” articulates the life problem born of insufficient bravery. Begging for oblivion! He responds with “Conquistador”, the archetype remedying the deficit, thereby experiencing beauty amid the rage of battle. They are both calling bravery the lead cause in the life outcome. A pair!

    “Emerson” and “Camden”, as a second pair, seem to correlate strongly in structure, at least, with the first. 😴

    I rest now, ill as I am, but would be thrilled with any conversation on any of this.

    Whadda ya think?

    1. There seems to be several perceptive comments on the various Borges poems I commented on, listenar.

      It’s been too long since I read Borges to remember much more than I have already written here. I couldn’t find “Conquistador” online, except in Spanish, which I can’t read, unfortunately.

      Experiencing life versus reflecting on life, seems to be a common theme in Borges. Modernity seems to suggest the same idea; which might explain why I’ve retreated to the Imagists and to the Chinese poets who rely more heavily on imagery.

      In my personal life, I’ve found relief in photography, which seems the least cerebral of the arts.

Comments are closed.