"The Strains of Eloquence:" Emerson and His Sermons, by Wesley T. Mott. The Pennsylvania State University, 1989. 236 pp. Dark green cloth hardcover, with cream paper dust jacket. Dust jacket has a small tear on front edge; otherwise this book is only lightly aged. This is the first extended study of the formative role of the sermons of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Mott's study emphasizes the dynamics of specific sermons, mostly previously unpublished, and offers their role in shaping Emerson's understanding of major issues in his life of the mind.