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Ralph Waldo Emerson


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Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American Transcendentalist poet, philosopher, lecturer, and essayist wrote Nature (1836);

To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.--Ch. 1

Initially published anonymously, Emerson's first collection of essays, Nature, is the culmination of much soul-searching and scholarly study by Emerson in the fields of philosophy and religion. Never intending to be regarded as a philosopher, Emerson emerged as one of the original thinkers of his age, oftentimes poetically expressing his ideals;

' .... of Nature itself upon the soul; the sunrise, the haze of autumn, the winter starlight seem interlocutors; the prevailing sense is that of an exposition in poetry; a high discourse, the voice of the speaker seems to breathe as much from the landscape as from his own breast; it is Nature communing with the seer.'

Emerson believed in individualism, non-conformity, and the need for harmony between man and nature. He was a proponent of abolition, and spoke out about the cruel treatment of Native Americans. Influenced by the Eastern philosophy of unity and a divine whole, emphasizing God Immanent, to be found in everyone and everything, Emerson sowed the seeds of the American Transcendentalist movement. He realised the importance of the spiritual inner self over the material external self through studying Kantianism, Confucianism, Neo-Platonism, Romanticism, and dialectical metaphysics and reading the works of Saint Augustine, Sir Francis Bacon, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and William Shakespeare among many others. During his lifetime and since Emerson has had a profound influence on some of the 19th and 20th century's most prominent figures in the arts, religion, education, and politics.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born on 25 May 1803 in the Puritan New England town of Boston, Massachusetts to Ruth née Haskins (d.1853) and Unitarian minister William Emerson (d.1811). Young Ralph had a strict but loving upbringing in the household of a minister who died when he was just eight years old. It was the first of many untimely deaths of Emerson's relatives. While his father had died young, he was very close to his mother, siblings, and Aunt Mary Moody who had a great and positive influence on his intellectual growth. Early on young Waldo as he like to be called started keeping journals and later would base many of his essays on his thoughts and observations expressed therein. While his writings were sometimes criticised as being too abstract, he was an eloquent and popular speaker.

After studying the classics at the Boston Latin School, Emerson enrolled in Harvard College, graduating in 1821. He then taught at his brother William's Boston school for young ladies. Emerson's first publication, "Thoughts on the Religion of the Middle Ages" appeared in 1822 in the Christian Disciple. When in 1825, Emerson entered Harvard Divinity School, there was much discussion of and influence from translations of the German critics and Hindu and Buddhist poetry--it was the beginning of his struggle to come to terms with his own Christian beliefs. "Divinity School Address" is one such work.

The same year Emerson was ordained minister in the Second Church in Boston, on 30 September 1829, he married Ellen Louisa Tucker. She died of tuberculosis a few years later and her death caused another wave of religious questioning and doubt for Emerson. He next married Lydia 'Lidian' Jackson (d.1892) on 14 September 1835 with whom he would have four children: Waldo (d. 1842), Ellen (d.1909), Edith, and Edward. They settled in Concord, Massachusetts where they would live for the rest of their lives, their home now the National Historic Landmark Ralph Waldo Emerson House. They entertained many friends and noted artists, free thinkers, poets, authors, and Transcendentalists of the time including Nathaniel Hawthorne and Bronson Alcott and his daughter Louisa May Alcott. Henry David Thoreau built his Walden Pond cabin on Emerson's property; he watched over Emerson's family when he lectured abroad.

In 1832 Emerson resigned his position with the Church and sailed for Europe. His health had been troubling him for some time, and he was advised to take a rest. He visited England, Scotland, France, and Italy, meeting poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, and philosophers John Stuart Mill and Thomas Carlyle, with whom he maintained a lengthy correspondence, published as Correspondence of Thomas Carlyle and R.W. Emerson (1883). English Traits (1856) is based on his travels. Emerson's first book Nature (1836) includes his essays "Nature", "Commodity", "Beauty", "Language", "Discipline", "Idealism", "Spirit", "Prospects", "The American Scholar", "Divinity School Address", "Literary Ethics", "The Method of Nature", "Man the Reformer", "Introductory Lecture on the Times", "The Conservative", "The Transcendentalist", and "The Young American".

Emerson had been lecturing for some time, and in 1838 made his controversial "Divinity School Address at Harvard, whereupon he was labeled an atheist. In 1840 he started The Dial with Margaret Fuller, which served as the official publication of the Transcendentalists until 1844. Emerson was a prolific essayist; many of them first appeared in The Dial, many of them were lectures he had given. Essays: First Series (1841) includes "History", "Self-Reliance", "Compensation", "Spiritual Laws", "Love", "Friendship", "Prudence", "Heroism", "The Over-Soul", "Circles", "Intellect" and "Art". Essays: Second Series (1844) includes "The Poet", "Experience", "Character", "Manners", "Gifts", "Nature", "Politics", "Nominalist and Realist", and "New England Reformers".

The same year Emerson embarked on year-long lecture tour of Europe, his poetry collection Poems (1847) was published. Miscellanies; Embracing Nature, Addresses, and Lectures (1849) was followed by another collection of lectures as essays, Representative Men (1850) that includes essays on Plato and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe--"Uses of Great Men", "Plato; or, the Philosopher", "Plato; New Readings", "Swedenborg; or, the Mystic", "Montaigne; or, the Skeptic", "Shakspeare; or, the Poet", "Napoleon; or, the Man of the World", and "Goethe; or, the Writer". The Conduct of Life (1860) appeared just before Emerson started a North American lecture series. His next collection of poetry May-Day and Other Pieces (1867) was followed by Society and Solitude (1870). Emerson next launched into his "Natural History of Intellect" series of lectures at Harvard University.

In 1872 the Emerson family sailed for Europe and Egypt while their home, badly damaged by fire, underwent repairs. When they returned, Emerson continued to write and address students and admirers alike. At the age of seventy-eight, Emerson caught a cold from being out in the New England rainy damp weather and it turned into pneumonia. On 27 April 1882 Ralph Waldo Emerson died at home in Concord, Massachusetts. Lydia survived him by ten years, and now rests beside him on Author's Ridge in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, U.S.A.


Mine are the night and morning,
The pits of air, the gulf of space,
The sportive sun, the gibbous moon,
The innumerable days.

I hide in the solar glory,
I am dumb in the pealing song,
I rest on the pitch of the torrent,
In slumber I am strong.

....

--from "Song of Nature", May-Day and Other Pieces

Biography written by C. D. Merriman for Jalic Inc. Copyright Jalic Inc. 2007. All Rights Reserved.

The above biography is copyrighted. Do not republish it without permission.

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Recent Forum Posts on Ralph Waldo Emerson

I found a book... Emerson's Work

Its titled Emerson's Work:: printed in 1906.. Gold leaf pages, leather bound.. its a tiny bit crooked, but it is from 1906, with "Pete from Esther 1908" written with what looks like either a fountain pen or a quill.. I havent read it myself.. Im not a reader. Sorry about that.. I just registered here because I know forums are were you get your best information! I was wondering to whom I could send pictures as proof and possibly sell the book? Would anyone know the value of the book? I've searched online, but no one reeeally gave me any useful information.. Interested in hearing from you! Coin

Posted By insertcoin at Thu 23 Jul 2009, 3:00 AM in Emerson, Ralph Waldo || 3 Replies

hi im new :) can someone help me quick?

hi hope all is well with every one, i normally..well have never done this, but would someone mind giving me a quick analysis of the poem illusions by Ralph waldo emerson?

Posted By treeline09 at Tue 20 Jan 2009, 4:07 PM in Emerson, Ralph Waldo || 0 Replies

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“Every man is a consumer, and ought to be a producer. He is by constitution expensive, and needs to be rich.” Emerson wrote it, does anyone know where?

Posted By FalseReality at Tue 16 Dec 2008, 7:10 PM in Emerson, Ralph Waldo || 0 Replies

Emerson

He rocks!!! :yawnb:

Posted By Zackary Vincent at Thu 13 Nov 2008, 11:31 AM in Emerson, Ralph Waldo || 0 Replies

Ralph Waldo Emerson's Each and All

I am a student from Vietnam. I have an English poetry class this Saturday and I will have a presentation about the poem Each And All by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The presentation is involved with answering the questions given by my teacher. Some of his questions are so difficult that I cannot think of any idea about them. So I really need your help Each And All Little thinks, in the field, yon red-cloaked clown, Of thee from the hill-top looking down; The heifer that lows in the upland farm, Far-heard, lows not thine ear to charm; The sexton, tolling his bell at noon, Deems not that great Napoleon Stops his horse, and lists with delight, Whilst his files sweep round yon Alpine height; Nor knowest thou what argument Thy life to thy neighbor's creed has lent. All are needed by each one; Nothing is fair or good alone. I thought the sparrow's note from heaven, Singing at dawn on the alder bough; I brought him home, in his nest, at even; He sings the song, but it pleases not now, For I did not bring home the river and sky; -- He sang to my ear, -- they sang to my eye. The delicate shells lay on the shore; The bubbles of the latest wave Fresh pearls to their enamel gave; And the bellowing of the savage sea Greeted their safe escape to me. I wiped away the weeds and foam, I fetched my sea-born treasures home; But the poor, unsightly, noisome things Had left their beauty on the shore, With the sun, and the sand, and the wild uproar. The lover watched his graceful maid, As 'mid the virgin train she stayed, Nor knew her beauty's best attire Was woven still by the snow-white choir. At last she came to his hermitage, Like the bird from the woodlands to the cage; -- The gay enchantment was undone, A gentle wife, but fairy none. Then I said, "I covet truth; Beauty is unripe childhood's cheat; I leave it behind with the games of youth:" – As I spoke, beneath my feet The ground-pine curled its pretty wreath, Running over the club-moss burrs; I inhaled the violet's breath; Around me stood the oaks and firs; Pine-cones and acorns lay on the ground; Over me soared the eternal sky, Full of light and of deity; Again I saw, again I heard, The rolling river, the morning bird; -- Beauty through my senses stole; I yielded myself to the perfect whole. My teacher says that the poem is formed of a series of parallels and analogies. I don't know what he implies and what details in the poem are considered parallels. Moreover, the rhyme pattern of the poem seems to be irregular. I'm not sure about this. If so, does this do any influence on the meaning of the poem?

Posted By thinh at Tue 1 Apr 2008, 10:34 AM in Emerson, Ralph Waldo || 2 Replies

Drawing on Emerson--and Byron

UNTREATED My poetry is a blending of autobiographical elements, echoes of the literature of the social sciences and humanities and a steady stream of references to and influences from Baha’i writings, history and teachings. This evening I was reading about the English poet George Byron(1788-1824). I was particularly struck by the fact that all of Byron's poetry is a blending of autobiographical elements and echoes of the literature he had absorbed over the years. And so I felt a certain affinity to Byron for this reason. His poem Don Juan is considered the most autobiographical of Byron’s works. Almost all of Don Juan is real life either Byron’s or the lives of those whom he knew. Byron started writing Don Juan on July 3rd 1818, eight months after the birth of Baha’u’llah. He continued working on the poem in Italy and on his death in 1824 the poem remained unfinished. Don Juan was a, perhaps the, poem that the working class took to heart in the mid-19th century, so Friedrich Engles informed us in 1844. This poem reached the urban and rural poor and, for many, it was all they read besides the Bible. It is very likely that most of these readers did not read any of Byron's other works. As early as 1819 the work was regarded by the bourgeoisie as filthy and impious, although it was not fully published until 1901. He was regarded by Eliot as having contributed nothing and by Goethe as the greatest genius of his century. -Ron Price with thanks to Galit Avitan, “Publication Histories: Byron’s Don Juan,” Ashes, Sparks and Hypertext, 2000. I suppose it’s your manic-depression that first attracted me to your work..; so often with poetry it’s the man and not the work which brings one close. Also, your popularity at the time of the birth of the greatest soul to ever draw breath on this planet1 and your autobiographical poetry…. At 36 my malady was finally treated and yours untreated even as you drew your last breath in 1824 at Missolonghi. You made your work for everyone, although now only a coterie read you. I, too, try to make my work readable by everyone but it, too, is read by few. Perhaps I should call my work sketches, autobiographical work perfecting my prose. Your life overshadowed your poetry and my life is my poetry. Few profoundly feel your influence, your sincerity and strength and fewer feel mine whatever I possess. Your battles in life exaggerated weakness; your strength was wasted in friction and you knew your poetry and Keats’ was poor that neither of you really had the poetic gift. Emerson said you had a sense of the infinite; to Shaw you were an energetic genius with a resultant unscrupulous freedom of thought; to Eliot you added and discovered nothing--- an assessment made at the start teaching Plan2 and an assessment prophetic in its way for most. 1 Baha’u’llah 1817. 2 1937 in “Contemporary and Critical Opinion,” Byron: Internet Site, 2004. Ron Price April 12th 2006 __________________________

Posted By Ron Price at Fri 11 Jan 2008, 10:19 PM in Emerson, Ralph Waldo || 1 Reply

Eastern Religion's Influence on Emerson?

Hi, I am in a class devoted to the influence that Chinese thought has had on the West. We have been given considerable freedom to write on whatever we wish, and I have decided on examining Emerson with regard to the Chinese texts I believe him to have been fond of. I have a few areas in which I need some help though: 1) How can I know what texts Emerson definitively read? Is there an archive anywhere on the net of the books he's read? 2) Are his Journals available anywhere online with some ability to search through them? If not, can anyone direct me in acquiring his journals? Anyone know which ones contain abundant references to Buddhism, Confucianism, etc? Thanks in advance.

Posted By MontaigneLN at Sat 29 Dec 2007, 1:29 AM in Emerson, Ralph Waldo || 1 Reply

Plz help me on a Analysis of a qoute

does anyone know what this is saying? There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance: that imitation is suicide: that he must take himself for bettr, for worse, as his portion: that through the wide universe is full of good, no kernal of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till.

Posted By loyt at Thu 29 Nov 2007, 6:09 PM in Emerson, Ralph Waldo || 2 Replies

important transcendentalism question

i need this explained to me andd maybee a few examples of what to say, its an essay questions, please and thx :) " Citing the excerpt from Emerson's Nature, along witht he "Where I Lived, And What I Lived For" and "The Pond in Winter" chapters from Thoreau's Walden, discuss in what ways the two spokesmen of American transcedentalism clarify transcendentalist concepts, in particular the operation of the Over-Soul and the preference for nature over civilization."

Posted By shadychick at Thu 21 Dec 2006, 11:55 AM in Emerson, Ralph Waldo || 0 Replies

Self Reliance - Emerson

Please help me guys: 1. Aside from conformity, what are the other obstacles to self-reliance? 2. Do most of us really gauge our esteem for each other by what we have and not by what we are? 3. What are Emerson's arguments against consistency? What does he mean to say about the truth today may not be true tomorrow? 4. Mention other people, beside those given by Emerson, who were misunderstood before their ideas were accepted. Why were they misunderstood at first? 5. Point out the relevance of Emerson's condemnation of a materialism to a country such as ours which is striving to attain economic stability. Lots of thanks guys! :thumbs_up

Posted By jhaelsinjin at Wed 4 Oct 2006, 2:21 AM in Emerson, Ralph Waldo || 2 Replies

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