# We Have Listened Too Long to the Courtly Muses of Europe by Ralph Waldo Emerson > “We have listened too long to the courtly muses of Europe.” > **— Ralph Waldo Emerson**, *The American Scholar, Phi Beta Kappa address, August 31, 1837* ## Sources and Context - **Primary source:** Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar,” Phi Beta Kappa address, Cambridge, Massachusetts, August 31, 1837; text in [*Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson*](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16643) (Project Gutenberg), checked word for word. - **Exact original:** “We have listened too long to the courtly muses of Europe.” No editorial change. - **Context:** The sentence follows Emerson's claim that confidence in “the unsearched might of man” belongs “to the American Scholar,” and precedes his complaint that “the spirit of the American freeman is already suspected to be timid, imitative, tame.” ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/War With Empire|War With Empire]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Article:** [[articles/war with empire/Authorship of the West|Authorship of the West]] - **Article:** [[articles/How Europe's Refuse Built the Apex Civilization Called America|How Europe's Refuse Built the Apex Civilization Called America]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Authorship of the West|Authorship of the West]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Ralph Waldo Emerson|Ralph Waldo Emerson]] - [[wiki/Charter Civilization|Charter Civilization]] - [[wiki/Authorship of the West|Authorship of the West]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “We have listened too long to the courtly muses of Europe.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, The American Scholar, Phi Beta Kappa address, August 31, 1837 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-ralph-waldo-emerson-courtly-muses-of-europe ```