Ralph Emerson's "Concord Hymn": Analysis

A BESTWORD ANALYSIS

Ralph Emerson’s “Concord Hymn” (1837) is a deeply moving poem of earnest recognition and solemn remembrance. Written for the raising of the North Bridge Obelisk (July 4th, 1837), Emerson’s “Concord Hymn” commemorates the first battle of the American Revolution, the Battle of Lexington and Concord (1775). Emerson, in particular, marks the Battle of North Bridge in Concord, where Colonist Minute Men fought British soldiers in pitched battle and won one of the first victories for independence. In classic Emerson style, his transcendentalist and philosophically profound nature shining through, “Concord Hymn” combines the allure of romanticized American history with an age old Colonist promise of reverence, not only through remembrance, but through action.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882), a New England poet and philosopher, was raised in a house, now the historic site, ‘The Old Manse,’ not far from the North Bridge that was the subject of Emerson’s “Concord Hymn”. Ralph Emerson’s grandfather, the Rev. William Emerson, who would later become a Colonial Chaplain, was witness to the Battle of North Bridge. Consequently, a young Ralph Emerson would have been raised a proud free American, idolizing the men who fought that day at North Bridge. Emerson’s admiration would finally find itself in the medium of a poem that was written in commemoration of the North Bridge Obelisk, and later inscribed on the statue of The Minute Man (1995) on the other side of the bridge. Emerson’s “Concord Hymn”, however, would find a broader meaning, not only in its famous quote, “The shot heard round the world”, but also in its American philosophy of sacrifice for the greater freedoms of generations to come.

CONCORD HYMN

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled;
Here once the embattled farmers stood;
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;                  5
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps,
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream that seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone,                             10
That memory may their deeds redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

O Thou who made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free, --
Bid Time and Nature gently spare                     15
The shaft we raised to them and Thee. (Ralph Emerson, 1837)

The opening stanza of Ralph Emerson’s “Concord Hymn” is an incredible work of romantic imagery: “By the rude bridge that arched the flood, / Their flag to April's breeze unfurled; / Here once the embattled farmers stood; / And fired the shot heard round the world” (1-4). The reader can sense the depth of reverence Emerson holds for these men; the description of the Colonial flag unfurling at dawn on April 19th, 1775, over the curvature of North Bridge and the first fateful shot of the American Revolution being fired across the Concord River. Ralph Emerson’s “The shot heard round the world” (4), describing the first shot fired at sunrise, is an exceedingly powerful line; so charged with American emotion that it would later be used to describe several other historically significant events. So momentous was this initial shot, that not only did it mark a major turning point in American history, but also for the rest of the world. It was at that moment, in that lightning swift snap, that a musket was fired and the echo of that shot has been resounding through the halls of history to this day.

The following stanzas of Ralph Emerson’s “Concord Hymn” would describe the progression of time and natural decay of the original bridge until the erection of a “votive stone” (10), the North Bridge Obelisk. In the final two lines of the third and fourth stanza Emerson prays that God will be kind to the commemorative statue, and that it will remind the generations to come of what had happened at this fateful North Bridge. But, perhaps, one of the most powerful couplets in the poem is “O Thou who made those heroes dare to die, / And leave their children free…” (11-12). This single half sentence would, in half a breath, sear the heart of any American reader. It draws on the bravery of the men who fought for their belief and the principles that they died for: the sake of the freedoms of their children, and all those who would come after. It is an American value that has been a part of its culture from the beginning: to fight, and die if necessary, for one’s freedom. It is in this couplet in “Concord Hymn”, that Emerson found meaning not only in the War of Independence, but in every American action since its conception. It’s for this swift and powerful couplet that Emerson’s “Concord Hymn” could find significance in a reading today just as much as it could over two hundred years ago.

Written by Jordan Dickie
CEO, Executive Editor
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jordandickie@bestword.ca