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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE COSMIC EGG by RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: UPON A ROCK, YET UNCREATE
Last Line: BUT THE ALLIGATOR WAS POTENTATOR.
Subject(s): INGENUITY;
UPON a rock yet uncreate,
Amid a chaos inchoate,
An uncreated being sate;
Beneath him, rock,
Above him, cloud.
And the cloud was rock,
And the rock was cloud.
The rock theft growing soft and warm,
The cloud began to take a form,
A form chaotic, vast, and vague,
Which issued in the cosmic egg.
Then the Being uncreate
On the egg did incubate,
And thus became the incubator;
And of the egg did allegate,
And thus became the alligator;
And the incubator was potentate,
But the alligator was potentator.


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