Emerson's "La Rhodora" is about a purple flower in the rhododendron family. Unlike its sister plant, Rhododendron ponticum, Rhodora grows near bogs or barren, acidic soils. Rhodora has no leaves and its flowers grow directly from the stem. Rhodora grows in solitude, away from other flowers considered to be of immense beauty. “La Rhodora” contemplates the beauty of a simple flower and its effect on its environment. In the poem, Emerson's speaker discovers that nature is beautiful and needs no excuses to exist. This is accomplished through the use of imagery, personification, apostrophe, and metaphor. The speaker begins by using descriptive diction to illustrate the Rhodora and its effect on its environment. The Rhodora is considered not only a flower, but also the focal point of the entire scene. Rhodora is freshly described in line 2. In lines 3 and 4, the speaker is amazed by Rhodora's solitude. It spreads its leafless flowers in a damp corner or solitary crevice in the woods. The Rhodora pleases the desert, which is a metaphor for a pla...