Characters and speaker

The most important characters in the poem “A Nation’s Strength” by Ralph Waldo Emerson are the speaker and the nation – represented as a collective character. In addition, there is the group of “brave men” which is individualized and worth mentioning.

The speaker

The speaker of the poem is also the speaker. As there are no other signs regarding the identity of the speaker, we can assume that he is a persona of the author, Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The speaker begins by asking several rhetorical questions meant to make the reader reflect on what makes a nation great:

“What makes a nation’s pillars high
And it’s foundations strong?
What makes it mighty to defy
The foes that round it throng?” (ll. 1-4)

After these rhetorical questions, the speaker also comes up with answers. Initially, he concludes that “it is not gold” (l. 6) which makes a nation strong. Then, he wonders whether the “sword” (l. 11) or the “pride” (l. 16) are suitable answers. However, none of the answers is true. The speaker does not only settle for offering an answer, but he also gives suitable explanations to make readers better understand why none of the three – gold, sword or pride – are what a nation needs.

Towards the end, in th...