Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist Contents: Top · 0–9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z, philosopher Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. It is distinguished from other ways of addressing fundamental questions by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument. The word "philosophy" comes from the, and poet A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary greatly in different cultures and time periods, best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in literature, religion, culture, and philosophy that emerged in New England in the early to middle 19th century. It is sometimes called American transcendentalism to distinguish it from other uses of the word transcendental. Transcendentalism began as a protest against the general state of culture and movement of the mid-19th century. His teachings directly influenced the growing New Thought The New Thought Movement or New Thought is a spiritual movement which developed in the United States during the late 19th century and emphasizes metaphysical beliefs. It consists of a loosely allied group of religious denominations, secular membership organizations, authors, philosophers, and individuals who share a set of metaphysical beliefs movement of the mid-1800s.^{[1] [2]} He was seen as a champion of individualism Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses "the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own interests, whether by society, or any other and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society.

Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in literature, religion, culture, and philosophy that emerged in New England in the early to middle 19th century. It is sometimes called American transcendentalism to distinguish it from other uses of the word transcendental. Transcendentalism began as a protest against the general state of culture and in his 1836 essay, Nature Nature is an essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, published anonymously in 1836. It is in this essay that the foundation of transcendentalism is put forth, a belief system that espouses a non-traditional appreciation of nature. Recent advances in zoology, botany, and geology confirmed Emerson's intuitions about the intricate relationships of. As a result of this ground-breaking work he gave a speech entitled The American Scholar "The American Scholar" was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson on August 31, 1837, to the Phi Beta Kappa Society in Harvard. He was invited to speak in recognition of his groundbreaking work Nature, published a year earlier, in which he established a new way for America's fledgling society to regard the world. Sixty years after in 1837, which Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. , was an American physician, professor, lecturer, and author. Regarded by his peers as one of the best writers of the 19th century, he is considered a member of the Fireside Poets. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858). He is considered to be America's "Intellectual Declaration of Independence".^[3] Considered one of the great orators It is recorded in English since c.1374, meaning "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French oratour, Old French orateur , Latin orator ("speaker"), from orare ("speak before a court or assembly; plead"), derived from a Proto-Indo-European base *or- ("to pronounce a ritual formula") of the time, Emerson's enthusiasm and respect for his audience enraptured crowds. His support for abolitionism Abolitionism was a movement in western Europe and the Americas to end the slave trade and set slaves free. The slave system aroused little protest until the 18th century, when rationalist thinkers of the Enlightenment criticized it for violating the rights of man, and Quaker and other evangelical religious groups condemned it as un-Christian late in life created controversy, and at times he was subject to abuse from crowds while speaking on the topic. When asked to sum up his work, he said his central doctrine was "the infinitude of the private man."^[4]

Early life, family, and education

Emerson was born in Boston, Massachusetts Boston (pronounced /ˈbɒstən/ ) is the capital and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact. Boston city proper had a 2008 estimated population of 620,5 on May 25, 1803,^[5] son of Ruth Haskins and the Rev. William Emerson, a Unitarian Unitarianism is a nontrinitarian Christian theology which holds that God is only one person, in contrast to the doctrine of the Trinity minister who descended from a well-known line of ministers.^[6] He was named after his mother's brother Ralph and the father's great-grandmother Rebecca Waldo.^[7] Ralph Waldo was the second of five sons who survived into adulthood; the others were William, Edward, Robert Bulkeley, and Charles.^[8] Three other children—Phebe, John Clarke, and Mary Caroline–died in childhood.^[8]

The young Ralph Waldo Emerson's father died from stomach cancer on May 12, 1811, less than two weeks before Emerson's eighth birthday.^[9] Emerson was raised by his mother as well as other intellectual and spiritual women in his family, including his aunt Mary Moody Emerson, who had a profound impact on the young Emerson.^[10] She lived with the family off and on, and maintained a constant correspondence with Emerson until her death in 1863.^[11]

Emerson's formal schooling began at the Boston Latin School The Boston Latin School is a public exam school founded on April 23, 1635, in Boston, Massachusetts. It is both the first public school and oldest existing school in the United States. The Public Latin School was a bastion for educating the sons of the Boston elite, resulting in the school claiming many prominent Bostonians as alumni. Its in 1812 when he was nine.^[12] In October 1817, at 14, Emerson went to Harvard College Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees. Founded in 1636, it is also Harvard's oldest school. Instruction of its students is the responsibility of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences and was appointed freshman messenger for the president, requiring Emerson to fetch delinquent students and send messages to faculty.^[13] Midway through his junior year, Emerson began keeping a list of books he had read and started a journal in a series of notebooks that would be called "Wide World".^[14] He took outside jobs to cover his school expenses, including as a waiter for the Junior Commons and as an occasional teacher working with his uncle Samuel in Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, billed by the Chamber of Commerce as the "birthplace of the American industrial revolution", and an early center for the labor movement. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning. The city.^[15] By his senior year, Emerson decided to go by his middle name, Waldo.^[16] Emerson served as Class Poet; as was custom, he presented an original poem on Harvard's Class Day, a month before his official graduation on August 29, 1821, when he was 18.^[17] He did not stand out as a student and graduated in the exact middle of his class of 59 people.^[18]

Around 1826, during a winter trip to St. Augustine, Florida, Emerson made the acquaintance of Prince Achille Murat. Murat, the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, was only two years his senior; the two became extremely good friends and enjoyed one another's company. The two engaged in enlightening discussions on religion, society, philosophy, and government.^[19]

Early career

After Harvard, Emerson assisted his brother William ^[20] in a school for young women^[21] established in their mother's house, after he had established his own school in Chelmsford, Massachusetts Chelmsford is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts in the Greater Boston area. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town's population was 33,858. The Census Bureau's 2008 population estimate for the town was 34,409, ranking it 14th in population among the 54 municipalities in Middlesex county. It is located 24 miles (39 km) from; when his brother William ^[22] went to Göttingen Göttingen (German pronunciation: [ˈɡœtɪŋən] ; Low German: Chöttingen [ˈçœtɪŋən]) is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686 to study divinity, Emerson took charge of the school. Over the next several years, Emerson made his living as a schoolmaster, then went to Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. The School's purpose is to train and educate its students—either in the academic study of religion, or for the practice of a religious ministry or other public service vocation. It also caters to students.

Emerson's brother Edward,^[23] two years younger than he, entered the office of lawyer Daniel Webster Daniel Webster was a leading American statesman during the nation's Antebellum Period. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests. His increasingly nationalistic views and the effectiveness with which he articulated them led Webster to become one of the most famous orators and influential Whig, after graduating Harvard first in his class. Edward's physical health began to deteriorate and he soon suffered a mental collapse as well; he was taken to McLean Asylum in June of 1828 at 23. Although he recovered his mental equilibrium he died in 1834 at 29 from apparently longstanding tuberculosis.^[24]

Boston's Second Church invited Emerson to serve as its junior pastor and he was ordained on March 11, 1829.^[25] Emerson met his first wife, Ellen Louisa Tucker, in Concord, New Hampshire and married her when she was 18.^[26] The couple moved to Boston, with Emerson's mother Ruth moving with them to help take care of Ellen, who was already sick with tuberculosis Tuberculosis or TB is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis in humans. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body. It is spread through the air, when people who have the disease cough, sneeze, or spit. Most infections in.^[27] Less than two years later, Ellen died at the age of 20 on February 8, 1831, after uttering her last words: "I have not forgot the peace and joy".^[28] Emerson was heavily affected by her death and often visited her grave.^[29] In a journal entry dated March 29, 1831, Emerson wrote, "I visited Ellen's tomb and opened the coffin".^[30]

After his wife's death, he began to disagree with the church's methods, writing in his journal in June 1832: "I have sometimes thought that, in order to be a good minister, it was necessary to leave the ministry. The profession is antiquated. In an altered age, we worship in the dead forms of our forefathers".^[31] His disagreements with church officials over the administration of the Communion The Eucharist, also called Holy Communion, Sacrament of the Table, the Blessed Sacrament, or The Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance, generally considered to be a re-enactment of the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus Christ shared with his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion, during which he gave them service and misgivings about public prayer eventually led to his resignation in 1832. As he wrote, "This mode of commemorating Christ is not suitable to me. That is reason enough why I should abandon it".^[32]

Emerson toured Europe in 1832 and later wrote of his travels in English Traits (1857).^[33] He left aboard the brig Jasper on Christmas Day, sailing first to Malta.^[34] During his European trip, he met William Wordsworth Wordsworth's magnum opus is generally considered to be The Prelude, a semiautobiographical poem of his early years which he revised and expanded a number of times. It was posthumously titled and published, prior to which it was generally known as the poem "to Coleridge." Wordsworth was Britain's Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in, Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, as well as for his major prose work Biographia, John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of utilitarianism, an ethical theory developed by Jeremy Bentham, although, and Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle was a Scottish satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era. He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator. Carlyle in particular was a strong influence on Emerson; Emerson would later serve as an unofficial literary agent in the United States for Carlyle. The two would maintain correspondence until Carlyle's death in 1881.^[35]

Emerson returned to the United States on October 9, 1833, and lived with his mother in Newton, Massachusetts, until November 1834 when he moved to Concord, Massachusetts, to live with his step-grandfather Dr. Ezra Ripley at what was later named The Old Manse The Old Manse is an historic manse famous for its American literary associations. It is now owned and operated as a nonprofit museum by the Trustees of Reservations. The house is located on Monument Street in Concord, Massachusetts and it neighbors the North Bridge over the Concord River, a part of Minute Man National Historical Park.^[36] In 1835, he bought a house on the Cambridge and Concord Turnpike The Cambridge and Concord Turnpike was an early turnpike between Cambridge and Concord, Massachusetts. Portions have been incorporated into today's Massachusetts Route 2; the remainder forms other major local roads in Concord, Massachusetts now open to the public as the Ralph Waldo Emerson House The Ralph Waldo Emerson House is a house museum located at 28 Cambridge Turnpike, Concord, Massachusetts, and a National Historic Landmark for its associations with American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. The museum is open mid-April to mid-October; an admission fee is charged,^[37] and quickly became one of the leading citizens in the town. He married his second wife Lydia Jackson in her home town of Plymouth, Massachusetts]^[38] on September 14, 1835.^[39] He called her Lidian and she called him Mr. Emerson.^[40] Their children were Waldo, Ellen, Edith, and Edward Waldo Emerson. Ellen was named for his first wife, at Lidian's suggestion.^[41]

Another of Emerson's bright and promising younger brothers, Charles, born in 1808, died in 1836, also of consumption,^[42] making him the third young person in Emerson's innermost circle to die in a period of a few years.

Emerson lived a financially conservative lifestyle.^[43] He had inherited some wealth after his wife's death, though he brought a lawsuit against the Tucker family in 1836 to get it.^[44] He received $11,674.79 in July 1837.^[45]

Literary career and Transcendentalism

Emerson and other like-minded intellectuals founded the Transcendental Club, which served as a center for the movement. Its first official meeting was held on September 19, 1836.^[46] Emerson anonymously published his first essay, Nature Nature is an essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, published anonymously in 1836. It is in this essay that the foundation of transcendentalism is put forth, a belief system that espouses a non-traditional appreciation of nature. Recent advances in zoology, botany, and geology confirmed Emerson's intuitions about the intricate relationships of, in September 1836. A year later, on August 31, 1837, Emerson delivered his now-famous Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society. Its mission is to "celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences"; and induct "the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at America’s leading colleges and universities." Founded at The College of William and Mary on December 5, 1776, as the address, "The American Scholar "The American Scholar" was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson on August 31, 1837, to the Phi Beta Kappa Society in Harvard. He was invited to speak in recognition of his groundbreaking work Nature, published a year earlier, in which he established a new way for America's fledgling society to regard the world. Sixty years after",^[47] then known as "An Oration, Delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge"; it was renamed for a collection of essays in 1849.^[48] In the speech, Emerson declared literary independence in the United States and urged Americans to create a writing style all their own and free from Europe.^[49] James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets who rivaled the popularity of British poets. These poets usually used conventional forms and meters in their poetry, making them suitable for families, who was a student at Harvard at the time, called it "an event without former parallel on our literary annals".^[50] Another member of the audience, Reverend John Pierce, called it "an apparently incoherent and unintelligible address".^[51]

In 1837, Emerson befriended Henry David Thoreau Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, philosopher, and leading transcendentalist. He is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay, Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government. Though they had likely met as early as 1835, in the fall of 1837, Emerson asked Thoreau, "Do you keep a journal?" The question went on to have a lifelong inspiration for Thoreau.^[52]

On July 15, 1838,^[53] Emerson was invited to Divinity Hall, Harvard Divinity School Divinity Hall is the oldest building in the Harvard Divinity School at Harvard University. It is located at 14 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts for the school's graduation address, which came to be known as his "Divinity School Address". Emerson discounted Biblical miracles and proclaimed that, while Jesus was a great man, he was not God: historical Christianity, he said, had turned Jesus into a "demigod, as the Orientals or the Greeks would describe Osiris or Apollo".^[54] His comments outraged the establishment and the general Protestant community. For this, he was denounced as an atheist Atheism, in a broad sense, is the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Most inclusively, atheism is simply the absence of belief that any deities exist. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which in its most general form is the belief that at least one,^[54] and a poisoner of young men's minds. Despite the roar of critics, he made no reply, leaving others to put forward a defense. He was not invited back to speak at Harvard for another thirty years.^[55]

The Transcendental group began to publish its flagship journal, The Dial The Dial was an American magazine published intermittently from 1840 to 1929. In its first form, from 1840 to 1844, it served as the chief publication of the Transcendentalists. In the 1880s it was revived as a political magazine. From 1920 to 1929 it was an influential outlet for Modernist literature in English, in July 1840.^[56] They planned the journal as early as October 1839, but work did not begin until the first week of 1840.^[57] George Ripley George Ripley was an American social reformer, Unitarian minister, and journalist associated with Transcendentalism. He was the founder of the short-lived Utopian community Brook Farm in West Roxbury, Massachusetts was its managing editor^[58] and Margaret Fuller Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli, commonly known as Margaret Fuller, was an American journalist, critic, and women's rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movement. She was the first full-time female book reviewer in journalism. Her book Woman in the Nineteenth Century is considered the first major feminist work in the United was its first editor, having been hand-chosen by Emerson after several others had declined the role.^[59] Fuller stayed on for about two years and Emerson took over, utilizing the journal to promote talented young writers including William Ellery Channing Dr. William Ellery Channing was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton, one of Unitarianism's leading theologians. He was known for his articulate and impassioned sermons and public speeches, and as a prominent thinker in the liberal theology of the day. Dr. Channing's and Thoreau.^[52]

It was in 1841 that Emerson published Essays, his second book, which included the famous essay, "Self-Reliance Self-Reliance is an essay written by American Transcendentalist philosopher and essayist, Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains the most thorough statement of one of Emerson's repeating themes, the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency, and follow his or her own instincts and ideas. It is the source of one of Emerson's most". ^[60] His aunt called it a "strange medley of atheism and false independence", but it gained favorable reviews in London and Paris. This book, and its popular reception, more than any of Emerson's contributions to date laid the groundwork for his international fame.^[61]

In January 1842 Emerson's first son Waldo died from scarlet fever The group A streptococcus bacterium is a form of β-hemolytic Streptococcus bacteria responsible for most cases of streptococcal illness. Other types (B, C, D, and G) may also cause infection. Several virulence factors contribute to the pathogenesis of GAS, such as M protein, hemolysins, and extracellular enzymes. For further explanation of these.^[62] Emerson wrote of his grief in the poem "Threnody A threnody is a song or hymn of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person. The term originates from the Greek word threnoidia, from threnos + oide ("song"); ultimately, from the Proto-Indo-European root wed- ("to speak") that is also the precursor of such words as "ode", "tragedy", "" ("For this losing is true dying"),^[63] and the essay "Experience". In the same year, William James William James was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a medical doctor. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism. He was the brother of novelist Henry James and of diarist Alice James was born, and Emerson agreed to be his godfather A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. Judaism has this equivalent in the circumcision ceremony. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother. The child is a godchild.

Bronson Alcott Amos Bronson Alcott was an American teacher, writer and philosopher who left a legacy of forward-thinking social ideas and whose status as a well-publicized figure from the 1830s to the 1880s stemmed from his founding of two short-lived projects, an unconventional school and an utopian community known as "Fruitlands", as well as from his announced his plans in November 1842 to find "a farm of a hundred acres in excellent condition with good buildings, a good orchard and grounds".^[64] Charles Lane purchased a 90-acre (360,000 m²) farm in Harvard, Massachusetts, in May 1843 for what would become Fruitlands, a community based on Utopian ideals inspired in part by Transcendentalism.^[65] The farm would run based on a communal effort, using no animals for labor; its participants would eat no meat and use no wool or leather.^[66] Emerson said he felt "sad at heart" for not engaging in the experiment himself.^[67] Even so, he did not feel Fruitlands would be a success. "Their whole doctrine is spiritual", he wrote, "but they always end with saying, Give us much land and money".^[68] Even Alcott admitted he was not prepared for the difficulty in operating Fruitlands. "None of us were prepared to actualize practically the ideal life of which we dreamed. So we fell apart", he wrote.^[69] After its failure, Emerson helped buy a farm for Alcott's family in Concord^[68] which Alcott named "Hillside The Wayside is a historic house in Concord, Massachusetts. The earliest part of the home may date to 1717. Later, it successively became the home of the young Louisa May Alcott and her family, author Nathaniel Hawthorne and his family, and children's literature writer Margaret Sidney. It became the first site with literary associations acquired by".^[69]

The Dial The Dial was an American magazine published intermittently from 1840 to 1929. In its first form, from 1840 to 1844, it served as the chief publication of the Transcendentalists. In the 1880s it was revived as a political magazine. From 1920 to 1929 it was an influential outlet for Modernist literature in English ceased publication in April 1844; Horace Greeley Horace Greeley was an American newspaper editor, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, and a politician. His New York Tribune was America's most influential newspaper from the 1840s to the 1870s and "established Greeley's reputation as the greatest editor of his day." Greeley used it to promote the Whig and Republican reported it as an end to the "most original and thoughtful periodical ever published in this country".^[70]

Emerson made a living as a popular lecturer in New England and much of the rest of the country. From 1847 to 1848, he toured England, Scotland, and Ireland.^[71] He also visited Paris between the February Revolution and the bloody June Days. When he arrived, he saw the stumps where trees had been cut down to form barricades in the February riots. On May 21 he stood on the Champ de Mars in the midst of mass celebrations for concord, peace and labor. He wrote in his journal: "At the end of the year we shall take account, & see if the Revolution was worth the trees."^[72]

He had begun lecturing in 1833; by the 1850s he was giving as many as 80 per year.^[73] Emerson spoke on a wide variety of subjects and many of his essays grew out of his lectures. He charged between $10 and $50 for each appearance, bringing him about $800 to $1,000 per year.^[74] His earnings allowed him to expand his property, buying eleven acres of land by Walden Pond and a few more acres in a neighboring pine grove. He wrote that he was "landlord and waterlord of 14 acres, more or less".^[68]

In 1845, Emerson's journals show he was reading the Bhagavad Gita and Henry Thomas Colebrooke's Essays on the Vedas.^[75] Emerson was strongly influenced by the Vedas, and much of his writing has strong shades of nondualism. One of the clearest examples of this can be found in his essay "The Over-soul":

We live in succession, in division, in parts, in particles. Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related, the eternal ONE. And this deep power in which we exist and whose beatitude is all accessible to us, is not only self-sufficing and perfect in every hour, but the act of seeing and the thing seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject and the object, are one. We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are shining parts, is the soul.^[76]

Emerson was introduced to Indian philosophy when reading the works of French philosopher Victor Cousin.^[77]

In February 1852 Emerson and James Freeman Clarke and William Henry Channing edited an edition of the works and letters of Margaret Fuller, who had died in 1850.^[78] Within a week of her death, her New York editor Horace Greeley suggested to Emerson that a biography of Fuller, to be called Margaret and Her Friends, be prepared quickly "before the interest excited by her sad decease has passed away".^[79] Published with the title The Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli,^[80] Fuller's words were heavily censored or rewritten.^[81] The three editors were not concerned about accuracy; they believed public interest in Fuller was temporary and that she would not survive as a historical figure.^[82] Even so, for a time, it was the best-selling biography of the decade and went through thirteen editions before the end of the century.^[80]

Walt Whitman published the innovative poetry collection Leaves of Grass in 1855 and sent a copy to Emerson for his opinion. Emerson responded positively, sending a flattering five-page letter as a response.^[83] Emerson's approval helped the first edition of Leaves of Grass stir up significant interest^[84] and convinced Whitman to issue a second edition shortly thereafter.^[85] This edition quoted a phrase from Emerson's letter, printed in gold leaf on the cover: "I Greet You at the Beginning of a Great Career".^[86] Emerson took offense that this letter was made public^[87] and later became more critical of the work.^[88]

Civil War years

Though Emerson was anti-slavery, he did not immediately become active in the abolitionist movement. He voted for Abraham Lincoln in 1860, but Emerson was disappointed that Lincoln was more concerned about preserving the Union than eliminating slavery outright.^[89] Once the American Civil War broke out, Emerson made it clear that he believed in immediate emancipation of the slaves.^[90] Emerson gave a public lecture in Washington, D.C., on January 31, 1862, and declared: "The South calls slavery an institution... I call it destitution... Emancipation is the demand of civilization".^[91] The next day, February 1, his friend Charles Sumner took him to meet Lincoln at the White House; his misgivings about Lincoln began to soften after this meeting.^[92]

On May 6, 1862, Emerson's protege Henry David Thoreau died of tuberculosis at the age of 44 and Emerson delivered his eulogy. Emerson would continuously refer to Thoreau as his best friend,^[93] despite a falling out that began in 1849 after Thoreau published A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers.^[94] Another friend, Nathaniel Hawthorne, died two years after Thoreau in 1864. Emerson served as one of the pallbearers as Hawthorne was buried in Concord, as Emerson wrote, "in a pomp of sunshine and verdure".^[95]

Final years and death

Beginning as early as the summer of 1871 or in the spring of 1872, Emerson was losing his memory^[96] and suffered from aphasia.^[97] By the end of the decade, he forgot his own name at times and, when anyone asked how he felt, he responded, "Quite well; I have lost my mental faculties, but am perfectly well".^[98]

Emerson's Concord home caught fire on July 24, 1872; Emerson called for help from neighbors and, giving up on putting out the flames, all attempted to save as many objects as possible.^[99] The fire was put out by Ephraim Bull, Jr., the one-armed son of Ephraim Wales Bull.^[100] Donations were collected by friends to help the Emersons rebuild, including $5,000 gathered by Francis Cabot Lowell, another $10,000 collected by LeBaron Russell Briggs, and a personal donation of $1,000 from George Bancroft.^[101] Support for shelter was offered as well; though the Emersons ended up staying with family at the Old Manse, invitations came from Anne Lynch Botta, James Elliot Cabot, James Thomas Fields and Annie Adams Fields.^[102] The fire marked an end to Emerson's serious lecturing career; from then on, he would lecture only on special occasions and only in front of familiar audiences.^[103]

While the house was being rebuilt, Emerson took a trip to England, continental Europe, and Egypt. He left on October 23, 1872, along with his daughter Ellen^[104] while his wife Lidian spent time at the Old Manse and with friends.^[105] Emerson and his daughter Ellen returned to the United States on the ship Olympus along with friend Charles Eliot Norton on April 15, 1873.^[106] Emerson's return to Concord was celebrated by the town and school was canceled that day.^[97]

In late 1874 Emerson published an anthology of poetry called Parnassus, which included poems by Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Julia Caroline Dorr, Jean Ingelow, Lucy Larcom, Jones Very, as well as Thoreau and several others.^[107] The anthology was originally prepared as early as the fall of 1871 but was delayed when the publishers asked for revisions.^[108]

The problems with his memory had become embarrassing to Emerson and he ceased his public appearances by 1879. As Holmes wrote, "Emerson is afraid to trust himself in society much, on account of the failure of his memory and the great difficulty he finds in getting the words he wants. It is painful to witness his embarrassment at times".^[98]

On April 19, 1882, Emerson went walking despite having an apparent cold and was caught in a sudden rain shower. Two days later, he was diagnosed with pneumonia.^[109] He died on April 27, 1882. Emerson is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Massachusetts.^[110] He was placed in his coffin wearing a white robe given by American sculptor Daniel Chester French.^[111]

Lifestyle and beliefs

Emerson's religious views were often considered radical at the time. He believed that all things are connected to God and, therefore, all things are divine.^[112] Critics believed that Emerson was removing the central God figure; as Henry Ware, Jr. said, Emerson was in danger of taking away "the Father of the Universe" and leaving "but a company of children in an orphan asylum".^[113] Emerson was partly influenced by German philosophy and Biblical criticism.^[114] His views, the basis of Transcendentalism, suggested that God does not have to reveal the truth but that the truth could be intuitively experienced directly from nature.^[115]

Emerson did not become an ardent abolitionist until later in his life, though his journals show he was concerned with slavery beginning in his youth, even dreaming about helping to free slaves. In June 1856, shortly after Charles Sumner, a United States Senator, was beaten for his staunch abolitionist views, Emerson lamented that he himself was not as committed to the cause. He wrote, "There are men who as soon as they are born take a bee-line to the axe of the inquisitor... Wonderful the way in which we are saved by this unfailing supply of the moral element".^[116] After Sumner's attack, Emerson began to speak out about slavery. "I think we must get rid of slavery, or we must get rid of freedom", he said at a meeting at Concord that summer.^[117] Emerson used slavery as an example of a human injustice, especially in his role as a minister. In early 1838, provoked by the murder of an abolitionist publisher from Alton, Illinois named Elijah Parish Lovejoy, Emerson gave his first public antislavery address. As he said, "It is but the other day that the brave Lovejoy gave his breast to the bullets of a mob, for the rights of free speech and opinion, and died when it was better not to live".^[116] John Quincy Adams said the mob-murder of Lovejoy "sent a shock as of any earthquake throughout this continent".^[118] However, Emerson maintained that reform would be achieved through moral agreement rather than by militant action. By August 1, 1844, at a lecture in Concord, he stated more clearly his support for the abolitionist movement. He stated, "We are indebted mainly to this movement, and to the continuers of it, for the popular discussion of every point of practical ethics".^[119]

There is evidence suggesting that Emerson may have been bisexual.^[120] During his early years at Harvard, he found himself "strangely attracted" to a young freshman named Martin Gay about whom he wrote sexually charged poetry.^[121][122] Gay would be only the first of his infatuations and interests, with Nathaniel Hawthorne numbered among them.^[123]

Legacy

As a lecturer and orator, Emerson—nicknamed the Concord Sage—became the leading voice of intellectual culture in the United States.^[124] Herman Melville, who had met Emerson in 1849, originally thought he had "a defect in the region of the heart" and a "self-conceit so intensely intellectual that at first one hesitates to call it by its right name", though he later admitted Emerson was "a great man".^[125] Theodore Parker, a minister and Transcendentalist, noted Emerson's ability to influence and inspire others: "the brilliant genius of Emerson rose in the winter nights, and hung over Boston, drawing the eyes of ingenuous young people to look up to that great new start, a beauty and a mystery, which charmed for the moment, while it gave also perennial inspiration, as it led them forward along new paths, and towards new hopes".^[126]

In his book The American Religion, Harold Bloom repeatedly refers to Emerson as "The prophet of the American Religion," which in the context of the book refers to indigenously American and gnostic-tinged religions such as Mormonism and Christian Science that arose largely in Emerson's lifetime. In The Western Canon, Harold Bloom compares Emerson to Michel de Montaigne: "The only equivalent reading experience that I know is to reread endlessly in the notebooks and journals of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American version of Montaigne."^[127]

In May 2006, 168 years after Emerson delivered his "Divinity School Address," Harvard Divinity School announced the establishment of the Emerson Unitarian Universalist Association Professorship.^[128] Harvard has also named a building, Emerson Hall (1900), after him.^[129]

Emerson Hill, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Staten Island is named for his eldest brother, Judge William Emerson, who resided there from 1837 to 1864.^[130]

Selected works

Collections

• Poems (1847)
• Representative Men (1850)
• English Traits (1856)
• The Conduct of Life (1860)
• May Day and Other Poems (1867)
• Society and Solitude (1870)
• Letters and Social Aims (1876)

Essays

• "Self-Reliance"
• "Compensation"
• "The Over-Soul"
• "The Poet"
• "Experience"
• "Nature"
• "The American Scholar"
• "Politics"
• "Circles"
• "New England Reformers"

Poems

• "Concord Hymn"
• "The Rhodora"

See also

• American philosophy
• List of American philosophers

Notes

1. ^ INTA New Thought History Chart
2. ^ New Thought at MSN Encarta. Retrieved Nov. 16, 2007.
3. ^ Cheever, 80
4. ^ Ward, p. 389.
5. ^ Sullivan, 3.
6. ^ Cheever, 76.
7. ^ McAleer, 12.
8. ^ ^{a b} Baker, 3
9. ^ McAleer, 40
10. ^ Richardson, 22–23
11. ^ Baker, 35
12. ^ McAleer, 44
13. ^ McAleer, 52
14. ^ Richardson, 11
15. ^ McAleer, 53
16. ^ Richardson, 6
17. ^ McAleer, 61
18. ^ Buell, 13
19. ^ Field, Peter S., Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Making of a Democratic Intellectual, Rowman & Littlefield, 2003, ISBN 0847688437, 9780847688432
20. ^ Richardson, 29
21. ^ McAleer, 66
22. ^ Richardson, 35
23. ^ Richardson, 36-37
24. ^ Richardson, 37
25. ^ Packer, 36–37
26. ^ Cheever, 78
27. ^ McAleer, 105
28. ^ Richardson, 108
29. ^ Cheever, 79
30. ^ Baker, 11
31. ^ Sullivan, 6
32. ^ Packer, 39
33. ^ McAleer, 132
34. ^ Baker, 23
35. ^ Packer, 40.
36. ^ Sullivan, 8
37. ^ Wilson, Susan. Literary Trail of Greater Boston. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000: 127. ISBN 0-618-05013-2
38. ^ Lydia (Jackson) Emerson was a descendant of Abraham Jackson, one of the original proprietors of Plymouth, who married the daughter of Nathaniel Morton, longtime Secretary of the Plymouth Colony.
39. ^ Sullivan, 9
40. ^ Richardson, 192
41. ^ Baker, 86
42. ^ Richardson, 38-40
43. ^ Cheever, 86
44. ^ Cheever, 82
45. ^ McAleer, 108
46. ^ Baker, 53
47. ^ Sullivan, 13
48. ^ Buell, 45
49. ^ Watson, Peter. Ideas: A History of Thought and Invention, from Fire to Freud. New York: Harper Perennial, 2005: 688. ISBN 978-0-06-093564-1
50. ^ Mowat, R. B. The Victorian Age. London: Senate, 1995: 83. ISBN 1-85958-161-8
51. ^ Menand, Louis. The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001: 18. ISBN 0-374-19963-9
52. ^ ^{a b} Buell, 121
53. ^ Packer, 73
54. ^ ^{a b} Buell, 161
55. ^ Sullivan, 14
56. ^ Gura, 129
57. ^ Von Mehren, 120
58. ^ Slater, Abby. In Search of Margaret Fuller. New York: Delacorte Press, 1978: 61–62. ISBN 0-440-03944-4
59. ^ Gura, 128–129
60. ^ [1], Essays: first series, Retrieved April 24, 2010
61. ^ The Bedside Baccalaureate, David Rubel, ed. (Sterling 2008), p. 153.
62. ^ Cheever, 93
63. ^ McAleer, 313
64. ^ Baker, 218
65. ^ Packer, 148
66. ^ Richardson, 381
67. ^ Baker, 219
68. ^ ^{a b c} Packer, 150
69. ^ ^{a b} Baker, 221
70. ^ Gura, 130
71. ^ Buell, 31
72. ^ Allen, Gay Wilson. Waldo Emerson. New York: Penguin Books, 1982: 512–514.
73. ^ Richardson, 418
74. ^ Sullivan, 16
75. ^ Sachin N. Pradhan, India in the United States: Contribution of India and Indians in the United States of America, Bethesda, MD: SP Press International, Inc., 1996, p 12.
76. ^ The Over-Soul from Essays: First Series (1841)
77. ^ Richardson, 114
78. ^ Baker, 321
79. ^ Von Mehren, 340
80. ^ ^{a b} Von Mehren, 343
81. ^ Blanchard, Paula. Margaret Fuller: From Transcendentalism to Revolution. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1987: 339. ISBN 0-201-10458-X
82. ^ Von Mehren, 342
83. ^ Kaplan, 203
84. ^ Callow, Philip. From Noon to Starry Night: A Life of Walt Whitman. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1992: 232. ISBN 0929587952
85. ^ Miller, James E., Jr. Walt Whitman. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc. 1962: 27.
86. ^ Reynolds, David S. Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography. New York: Vintage Books, 1995: 352. ISBN 0679767096.
87. ^ Callow, Philip. From Noon to Starry Night: A Life of Walt Whitman. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1992: 236. ISBN 0929587952.
88. ^ Reynolds, David S. Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography. New York: Vintage Books, 1995: 343. ISBN 0679767096.
89. ^ McAleer, 569–570
90. ^ Richardson, 547
91. ^ Baker, 433
92. ^ McAleer, 570
93. ^ Richardson, 548
94. ^ Packer, 193
95. ^ Baker, 448
96. ^ Baker, 502
97. ^ ^{a b} Richardson, 569
98. ^ ^{a b} McAleer, 629
99. ^ Richardson, 566
100. ^ Baker, 504
101. ^ Baker, 506
102. ^ McAleer, 613
103. ^ Richardson, 567
104. ^ Richardson, 568
105. ^ Baker, 507
106. ^ McAleer, 618
107. ^ Richardson, 570
108. ^ Baker, 497
109. ^ Richardson, 572
110. ^ Sullivan, 25
111. ^ McAleer, 662
112. ^ Richardson, 538
113. ^ Buell, 165
114. ^ Packer, 23
115. ^ Hankins, Barry. The Second Great Awakening and the Transcendentalists. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2004: 136. ISBN 0-313-31848-4
116. ^ ^{a b} McAleer, 531
117. ^ Packer, 232
118. ^ Richardson, 269
119. ^ Lowance, Mason (2000). Against Slavery: An Abolitionist Reader. Penguin Classics. pp. 301–302. ISBN 0140437584.
120. ^ Shand-Tucci, Douglas (2003). The Crimson Letter. New York: St Martens Press. pp. 15–16. ISBN 0-312-19896-5.
121. ^ Kaplan, 248
122. ^ Richardson, 9
123. ^ Kaplan, 249
124. ^ Buell, 34
125. ^ Sullivan, 123
126. ^ Baker, 201
127. ^ Bloom, Harold. The Western Canon. London: Papermac. 147–148.
128. ^ Harvard Divinity School (May 2006). "Emerson Unitarian Universalist Association Professorship Established at Harvard Divinity School". Press release. http://www.hds.harvard.edu/news/pr/emerson_uu.html. Retrieved 2007-02-22.
129. ^ Department of Philosophy of Harvard University
130. ^ http://www.nypl.org/branch/staten/index2.cfm?Trg=1&d1=1391 Staten Island on the Web: Famous Staten Islanders

Sources

• Baker, Carlos (1996). Emerson Among the Eccentrics: A Group Portrait. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 0-670-86675-X.
• Buell, Lawrence (2003). Emerson. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN ISBN 0-674-01139-2.
• Cheever, Susan (2006). American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau; Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work. Detroit: Thorndike Press. ISBN 078629521X.
• Gura, Philip F (2007). American Transcendentalism: A History. New York: Hill and Wang. ISBN 978-0-8090-3477-2.
• Kaplan, Justin (1979). Walt Whitman: A Life. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0671225421.
• McAleer, John (1984). Ralph Waldo Emerson: Days of Encounter. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0316553417.
• Packer, Barbara L. (2007). The Transcendentalists. The University of Georgia Press. ISBN 9780820329581.
• Richardson, Robert D., Jr. (1995). Emerson: The Mind on Fire. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-08808-5.
• Sullivan, Wilson (1972). New England Men of Letters. New York: The Macmillan Company. ISBN 0027886808.
• Von Mehren, Joan (1994). Minerva and the Muse: A Life of Margaret Fuller. Amherst, Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 1-55849-015-9.
• Ward, Julius H. (1887). The Andover Review. Houghton Mifflin.

External links

• Works by Ralph Waldo Emerson at Project Gutenberg
• Works by Ralph Waldo Emerson in free audio format from LibriVox
• The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson at RWE.org
• Representative Men from American Studies at the University of Virginia.
• The Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson transcendentalists.com
• The Enduring Significance of Emerson's Divinity School Address" – by John Haynes Holmes
• The Living Legacy of Ralph Waldo Emerson by Rev. Frank Schulman and Robert D. Richardson
• Tribute to Ralph Waldo Emerson – a hypertext guide, in English and in Italian
• Ralph Waldo Emerson complete Works at the University of Michigan
• Works by or about Ralph Waldo Emerson in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: "Ralph Waldo Emerson" – by Russell Goodman
• Quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson at quotesquotations.com
• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: "Ralph Waldo Emerson" – by Vince Brewton

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