There are days when I need words that remind me just how much strength a woman can hold, even in the quietest moments.
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poetry has always been my source of courage—his lines brimming with hope, resilience, and the kind of wisdom that endures through every storm.
Here are 10 astonishing Emerson poems, each chosen for women who face challenges with unwavering spirit and gentle power.
Let’s dive in!
My favorite poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson for enduring women
#1 “Thine Eyes Still Shined” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Thine eyes still shined for me, though far
I lonely roved the land or sea:
As I behold yon evening star,
Which yet beholds not me.
This morn I climbed the misty hill
And roamed the pastures through;
How danced thy form before my path
Amidst the deep-eyed dew!
When the redbird spread his sable wing,
And showed his side of flame;
When the rosebud ripened to the rose,
In both I read thy name.
Whenever I read “Thine Eyes Still Shined,” I’m struck by how Emerson captures the power of love that persists across time and distance.
The poem instantly draws me in with its vivid images and gentle longing, making me feel the ache and beauty of connection that endures.
Emerson’s words remind me that even when we’re separated from those we care about, their presence can still color our world, turning ordinary moments into something magical.
9 more poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson for enduring women
#2 “The Amulet” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Your picture smiles as first it smiled;
The ring you gave is still the same;
Your letter tells, O changing child!
No tidings since it came.
Give me an amulet
That keeps intelligence with you,–
Red when you love, and rosier red,
And when you love not, pale and blue.
Alas! that neither bonds nor vows
Can certify possession;
Torments me still the fear that love
Died in its last expression.
#3 “Art” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Give to barrows, trays and pans
Grace and glimmer of romance;
Bring the moonlight into noon
Hid in gleaming piles of stone;
On the city’s paved street
Plant gardens lined with lilacs sweet;
Let spouting fountains cool the air,
Singing in the sun-baked square;
Let statue, picture, park and hall,
Ballad, flag and festival,
The past restore, the day adorn,
And make to-morrow a new morn.
So shall the drudge in dusty frock
Spy behind the city clock
Retinues of airy kings,
Skirts of angels, starry wings,
His fathers shining in bright fables,
His children fed at heavenly tables.
‘T is the privilege of Art
Thus to play its cheerful part,
Man on earth to acclimate
And bend the exile to his fate,
And, moulded of one element
With the days and firmament,
Teach him on these as stairs to climb,
And live on even terms with Time;
Whilst upper life the slender rill
Of human sense doth overfill.
#4 “September” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
In the turbulent beauty
Of a gusty Autumn day,
Poet on a sunny headland
Sighed his soul away.
Farms the sunny landscape dappled,
Swandown clouds dappled the farms,
Cattle lowed in mellow distance
Where far oaks outstretched their arms.
Sudden gusts came full of meaning,
All too much to him they said,
Oh, south winds have long memories,
Of that be none afraid.
I cannot tell rude listeners
Half the tell-tale South-wind said,–
‘T would bring the blushes of yon maples
To a man and to a maid.
#5 “Eros” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
The sense of the world is short,–
Long and various the report,–
To love and be beloved;
Men and gods have not outlearned it;
And, how oft soe’er they’ve turned it,
Not to be improved.
#6 “Rubies” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
They brought me rubies from the mine,
And held them to the sun;
I said, they are drops of frozen wine
From Eden’s vats that run.
I looked again,–I thought them hearts
Of friends to friends unknown;
Tides that should warm each neighboring life
Are locked in sparkling stone.
But fire to thaw that ruddy snow,
To break enchanted ice,
And give love’s scarlet tides to flow,–
When shall that sun arise?
#7 “Love And Thought” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Two well-assorted travellers use
The highway, Eros and the Muse.
From the twins is nothing hidden,
To the pair is nought forbidden;
Hand in hand the comrades go
Every nook of Nature through:
Each for other they were born,
Each can other best adorn;
They know one only mortal grief
Past all balsam or relief;
When, by false companions crossed,
The pilgrims have each other lost.
#8 “Love” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Love on his errand bound to go
Can swim the flood and wade through snow,
Where way is none, ‘t will creep and wind
And eat through Alps its home to find.
#9 “I Bear In Youth The Sad Infirmities” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
I bear in youth the sad infirmities
That use to undo the limb and sense of age;
It hath pleased Heaven to break the dream of bliss
Which lit my onward way with bright presage,
And my unserviceable limbs forego.
The sweet delight I found in fields and farms,
On windy hills, whose tops with morning glow,
And lakes, smooth mirrors of Aurora’s charms.
Yet I think on them in the silent night,
Still breaks that morn, though dim, to Memory’s eye,
And the firm soul does the pale train defy
Of grim Disease, that would her peace affright.
Please God, I’ll wrap me in mine innocence,
And bid each awful Muse drive the damned harpies hence.
CAMBRIDGE, 1827
#10 “Fate” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Her planted eye to-day controls,
Is in the morrow most at home,
And sternly calls to being souls
That curse her when they come.