Lyrical expression in the language of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "The Reveries of the Solitary Walker"

Abstract

This is a reading of the lyricism present in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's “The Reveries of the Solitary Walker”, based on the premise that poetry is inherent to the language of the work. Similar to what we observe in the behavior of the individual represented in the Romantic literary movement, we perceive in the attitude of the poetic subject – the solitary walker – an escape from society, as well as his isolation in nature, demonstrating the conflict established between the subject and the world. From this perspective, turned inward, in the desire for self-discovery, the individual confronts the unknown and overcomes the obstacles that impede his development. Thus, we have an immersion of the self in his inner life, and his refusal to accept reality, since the narrator-character confesses that his walks are the only moment in which he finds himself – a privileged space-time whose solitude allows him to be himself, through his meditations, when he becomes convinced that happiness does not depend on men. Based on this, in each walk we observe the lyricism of the work, conferred in the enthusiasm of the solitary walker, just as it is possible to follow his reveries in contemplation of the landscape as he traverses the space. Thus, the detailed description of nature enhances the high imagistic content that configures the poetics present in Rousseau's prose. In the search for the poetry that harbors essence and truth, space becomes the place of discovery, excavated along the path trodden by the character.