From Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay *Self-Reliance* (1841). Select the word that fits the blank. "In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated ______."

Emerson's claim is paradoxical and high-toned: the thoughts a person has rejected return to them through someone else's work with an *exalted* quality — they look greater than they did when they were one's own. The blank must carry a *high*, *grand* register. "Majesty" — stately greatness — supplies exactly that elevation. "Alienated majesty" is one of the famous Emersonian phrases. - "Simplicity" works against the elevation Emerson is invoking — the *aha* he is naming is the *grandeur* of one's discarded thought, not its modesty. - "Melody" makes the metaphor musical, which is not what the sentence is doing (this is about returning thoughts, not sounds). - "Grace" is in the right register but is too mild; *grace* is gentle, while *majesty* carries the awestruck quality Emerson means.