The Inner Light Summary and Analysis

In The Inner Light: Chapter 22: The American Eye, as Emerson approaches Europe, which he sees as the Old World of history, science, and art, he becomes a defensive American. After a five-week voyage, he arrives in Malta; Emerson enjoys all that Italy has to offer, including its architecture, churches, art, and people. He already feels rejuvenated.

In The Inner Light: Chapter 23: I Will Be a Naturalist, Emerson travels through Switzerland and Paris. He is amazed and moved by the multitude of plant species found in the Paris botanical garden.

In The Inner Light: Chapter 24: A White Day in My Years, the botanical garden turns Emerson away from theology and toward science. In England, Emerson visits Coleridge, an old writer who Emerson considered a "citizen of the universe" (p. 143). Emerson meets the essayist Thomas Carlyle. The two men...