Reflection: "Emerson and the Work of Meloncolia"

This critical analysis takes a look at Emerson and his obsession with mourning. I say obsession because based on how the author views and has written about Emerson's works, it really does sound like an obsession. Emerson hated mourning and considered it a waste of time. I was really surprised to learn that he didn't mourn the death of his wife or brother. Most people would be devastated. Or, if they were more private people who didn't want to grieve openly, they would quietly mourn the loss of their loved ones in their own special way.
In a way, I kind of agree with Emerson. I don't necessarily believe that people should completely cut mourning out of their lives. I just think they shouldn't give it so much of their time. Grieving should be done quickly so that the person can move on with their lives. It seems so pointless to waste all of your time mourning a person who isn't around to appreciate the gesture anymore. All it does is hurt the people around you.
I loved how the author compared Emerson to Freud. I've been interested in Freud's works for a while now, but have never really had the chance to read any of them. The paragraph gave me some new insights into Freud's works and philosophies. The author of the article quoted another's thoughts on Freud that I found very interesting and helpful in understanding Emerson better:

From this pronouncement comes Philip Rieff 's formulation of the Freudian ethic: "The therapy of all therapies, the secret of all secrets, the interpretation of all interpretations, in Freud, is never to attach oneself exclusively or too passionately to any one particular meaning or object." The ethic is as characteristic of Emerson as it is of Freud (Emerson).

This whole thing seems pretty complicated to me. In his prose, Emerson appears to be saying the grieving is worthless and shouldn't be done, but everyone mourns some kind of loss at one point or another. Mark Edmundson even quotes a line that says "Alas! I chiefly grieve that I cannot grieve; that this fact takes no more deep hold than other facts, is as dreamlike as they; a lambent flame that will not burn playing on the surface of my river" (Emerson). I like Emerson's ideas about rebirth a lot better.
I think that Emerson stopped writing so much in the Romanticism style because, even though he might have denied it, he was mourning the loss of so many loved ones. I know from experience that it is extremely hard to write anything close to the Romanticism style when you've just lost someone close. I think he was disillusioned with the world. I also don't see why all these authors have chosen to write about his switch from Romanticism to Transcendentalism so much. Can't they just agree that it was his decision and leave it alone?
I understood some of the ideas presented in this article, and my favorite one was about the gulf and deciding whether to leap or be pushed into it. Emerson understood the difference, which makes me respect him a little bit more now.

"Emerson and the Work of Melancholia." Raritan (Spring 1987). Quoted as "Emerson and the Work of Melancholia" in Bloom, Harold, ed. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Updated Edition, Bloom's Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=1&iPin=MCVRWE007&SingleRecord=True (accessed November 7, 2010).