Skip to content
Linespedia

The Past

By Ralph Waldo Emerson

Topics: classic

The debt is paid,     The verdict said,     The Furies laid,     The plague is stayed.     All fortunes made;     Turn the key and bolt the door,     Sweet is death forevermore.     Nor haughty hope, nor swart chagrin,     Nor murdering hate, can enter in.     All is now secure and fast;     Not the gods can shake the Past;     Flies-to the adamantine door     Bolted down forevermore.     None can renter there,--     No thief so politic,     No Satan with a royal trick     Steal in by window, chink, or hole,     To bind or unbind, add what lacked,     Insert a leaf, or forge a name,     New-face or finish what is packed,     Alter or mend eternal Fact.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"The debt is paid,..."

This evocative piece by Ralph Waldo Emerson, titled "The Past", represents a masterful exploration of classic. The lines capture a profound emotional resonance... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The debt is paid,..." by Ralph Waldo Emerson

For usage rights, copyright concerns, or to report an issue with this content, please visit our Copyright & Report page.

Related lines

"One musician is sure,     His wisdom will not fail,     He has not tasted wine impure,     Nor bent to passion frail.     Age cannot cloud his"

"With beams December planets dart     His cold eye truth and conduct scanned,     July was in his sunny heart,     October in his liberal hand."

"Shines the last age, the next with hope is seen,     To-day slinks poorly off unmarked between:     Future or Past no richer secret folds,"

"Nature centres into balls,     And her proud ephemerals,     Fast to surface and outside,     Scan the profile of the sphere;     Knew they wh"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Ralph Waldo Emerson

About Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) was an American essayist, philosopher, and poet who led the Transcendentalist movement. His poems—including "Brahma," "The Rhodora," and "Concord Hymn"—explore nature, self-reliance, and the oversoul.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"One musician is sure,     His wisdom will not fail..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.