The author of Self- Reliance and Other Essays,Ralph Waldo Emerson, is known for his poems, quotes and books.
The American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century was named after his middle name.He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thoughts through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States.
In his 1836 essay "Nature", Emerson moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his time.He gave a speech called "The American Scholar" in 1836, which he considered to be America's "intellectual Declaration of Independence".[8]
Most of the important essays were written as lectures and then revised for print.The core of his thinking can be found in his first two collections of essays.They include the well-known essays "Self- Reliance", "The Over-soul" and "Circles".Between the mid-1830s and mid-1840s, these essays made the decade.The ability for mankind to realize almost anything, as well as the relationship between the soul and the surrounding world, are some of the ideas that Emerson wrote on."Philosophically considered, the universe is composed of Nature and the Soul," said the philosopher.Several figures took a more pantheist or pandeist approach by rejecting views of God as separate from the world.[11]
He is among the linchpins of the American romantic movement and his work has greatly influenced the writers and poets that followed him.He wrote that he taught one doctrine in all his lectures.He is a mentor and friend of Henry David Thoreau, a fellow transcendentalist.There are no comments at this time.
On May 25, 1803, a son of Ruth and the Rev. was born in Boston, Massachusetts.William was a minister.He was named after two of his family members.The other five sons were William, Edward, Robert Bulkeley, and Charles.Three other children died in childhood.His family had been in New England since the early colonial period, and he was entirely English.[18]
Less than two weeks before Emerson's eighth birthday, his father died of stomach cancer.He was raised by his mother, with the help of the other women in the family, and his aunt Mary Moody had a profound effect on him.She lived with the family off and on and kept in touch with him until her death in 1863.[21]
He attended the Boston Latin School when he was nine.At the age of 14, Emerson was appointed freshman messenger for the president of Harvard College and had to fetch delinquent students and send messages to faculty.Midway through his junior year, Emerson began keeping a list of books he had read and started a journal called "Wide World".He used outside jobs to cover his school expenses, including as a waiter for the Junior Commons and as an occasional teacher working with his uncle and aunt in Massachusetts.By his senior year, he decided to go by his middle name.The custom was for him to give an original poem on Class Day, a month before his graduation, when he was 18.He graduated in the middle of his class of 59 people.The School for Young Ladies was run by his brother William.He would live in a cabin in Massachusetts for two years, writing and studying nature.Schoolmaster Hill is in Boston's Franklin Park.[29]
Faced with poor health, Emerson went to seek a warmer climate.The weather in Charleston, South Carolina, was too cold for him.He took long walks on the beach and began writing poetry there.He made acquaintances with the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte.They were good friends and enjoyed each other's company.The two discussed religion, society, philosophy, and government.He considered Murat to be an important figure in his intellectual education.[31]
He had his first experience with slavery.He attended a meeting of the Bible Society while a slave auction was taking place outside.He wrote that one ear heard the good tidings of joy, while the other was told to go.'[32]
When William went to Gttingen to study law in the 18th century, his brother helped him establish a school for young women in their mother's house.In 1824, he was accepted into the Harvard Divinity School, and in 1828 he became a member of the society.Edward entered the office of the lawyer after graduating from Harvard first in his class.Edward was taken to a mental asylum at the age of 23 after his physical health began to decline.He died from Tuberculosis, although he recovered his mental equilibrium.The third young person in Emerson's circle to die in a few years was Charles, a bright and promising younger brother who died of Tuberculosis in 1836.
On Christmas Day, 1823, he met his first wife, Ellen Louisa Tucker, in Concord, New Hampshire, and they were married two years later.The couple moved to Boston to help take care of Ellen, who was sick with Tuberculosis.Ellen died at the age of 20 after uttering her last words: "I have not forgotten the peace and joy".She was heavily affected by her death and visited her grave daily.He wrote in his journal that he visited Ellen's tomb and opened the coffin.[45]
Boston's Second Church invited him to serve as its junior pastor, and he was ordination on January 11, 1829.His initial salary was $1,200 per year, increasing to $1,400 in July, but with his church role he took on other responsibilities, such as being a member of the Boston school committee.Facing the imminent death of his wife, he began to doubt his own beliefs, though his church activities kept him busy.
He wrote in his journal in June 1832 that he thought it was necessary to leave the ministry in order to be a good minister after his wife's death.The profession is outdated.In an altered age, we worship in the dead forms of our forefathers.His disagreements with church officials over the administration of the communion service eventually led to his resignation.He wrote, "This mode of commemoration is not suitable to me."I should abandon it because of that."Doffing the decent black of the pastor, he was free to choose the gown of his lecturer and teacher, not confined within the limits of an institution or a tradition".[51]
In English Traits, he wrote about his travels in Europe in the 18th century.He left the brig Jasper on Christmas Day to sail to Malta.He spent a lot of time in Italy, visiting Rome, Florence and Venice.John Stuart Mill gave him a letter of recommendation to meet Thomas Carlyle.He went to Switzerland and had to be dragged by fellow passengers to visit his home in Ferney, "protesting all the way upon the unworthiness of his memory".He visited the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, a "loud modern New York of a place".He was moved by the way the plants were grouped according to Jussieu's system of classification.Robert D. Richardson says, "Emerson's moment of insight into the interconnectedness of things in the Jardin des Plantes was almost visionary intensity that pointed him away from theology and toward science".[55]
In England, he met William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Thomas Carlyle.In March 1835, he tried to persuade Carlyle to come to America to give a lecture, because Carlyle was an influence on him.The two kept in touch until Carlyle's death.[57]
On October 9, 1833, he returned to the United States and lived with his mother in Massachusetts.He moved to Concord, Massachusetts, in October of 1834 to live with his step-grandfather.Given the budding Lyceum movement, which provided lectures on all sorts of topics, Emerson saw a possible career as a lecturer.He made the first "The Uses of Natural History" lecture in Boston on November 5, 1833.His experience in Paris was expanded in this account.In this lecture, he set out some of his important beliefs and the ideas he would later develop in his first published essay.
Every new fact one learns is a new word and the language is put together into a most significant and universal sense.I would like to learn this language, but I also want to read the great book that is written in that tongue.60
On January 24, 1835, the man wrote a letter to the woman he was going to marry.She received her acceptance by mail on the 28th.The house he named Bush was purchased in 1835 in Concord, Massachusetts, and is now open to the public.One of the leading citizens in the town was Emerson.On September 12, 1835, he gave a lecture to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the town of Concord.He moved to the new home in Concord with his mother on September 15, two days after he married Jackson in her home town.[65]
After changing his wife's name to Lidian, he would call her Queenie and sometimes Asia.There is a person named Emerson.Their children were Edward, Ellen, Edith, and Waldo.Edward was the father of Raymond.Ellen was named after his first wife.69
He was poor when he was at Harvard, but later was able to support his family.He had to file a lawsuit against the Tucker family to get his money after his first wife's death.He received $11,600 in May 1834 and another $11,674.49 in July 1836.He had an income of $1,200 a year from the initial payment of the estate, which was equivalent to what he had earned as a pastor.
On September 8, 1836, the day before the publication of Nature, Frederic Henry Hedge, George Putnam, and George Ripley met with Emerson to plan periodic gatherings of other like-minded intellectuals.The center for the movement was the beginning of the Transcendental Club.The first official meeting was held in September 1836.The first meeting of the Transcendental Club was attended by women.Margaret, Elizabeth, and Sarah were invited to dinner by Emerson to make sure they would be present for the meeting.He would prove to be an important figure in the field.
His first essay, "Nature", was published on September 9, 1836.He delivered his address, "The American Scholar", on August 31, 1836, and it was renamed for a collection of essays.In an edition of 500 copies, which sold out in a month, he published the talk at his own expense, after friends urged him to do so.In the speech, he urged Americans to create their own writing style, free from Europe.It was called an event without a former parallel on our literary annals by a student at Harvard at the time.Reverend John Pierce called it an incoherent and unintelligible address.[83]
The two men befriended Henry David Thoreau.They probably met as early as 1835, but in the fall of 1837, they were asked if they kept a journal.The question was an inspiration to Thoreau.The definitive Harvard University Press edition of the journal was published between 1960 and 1982.The journal is considered a key literary work by some scholars.There needs to be 84 pages needed.
The Masonic Temple in Boston hosted a series of lectures on the philosophy of history in March of 1836.He managed a lecture series on his own for the first time, and it was the beginning of his career as a lecturer.The profits from this series of lectures were larger than when he was paid to speak, and he continued to manage his own lectures throughout his lifetime.He traveled across the northern United States, giving as many as 80 lectures a year.[86]
The "Divinity School Address" was the graduation address of the Harvard Divinity School, which was delivered on July 15, 1838.He said historical Christianity had turned Jesus into a "demigod, as the Orientals or the Greeks would describe Osiris or Apollo".His comments upset the establishment and the general Protestant community.He was accused of being a poisoner of young men's minds.He did not reply despite the roar of critics.He wasn't invited back to speak at Harvard for another thirty years.[89]
The group's flagship journal, The Dial, was published in July 1840.They began work on the journal in the first week of 1840.George Ripley was the managing editor.Margaret was the first editor after several others declined the role.When Emerson took over, he used the journal to promote talented young writers, including Thoreau.[83]
The famous essay "Self- Reliance" was included in Essays, his second book.It gained favorable reviews in London and Paris, despite being called a "strange mixture of atheism and false independence" by his aunt.The groundwork for his international fame was laid by this book and its popular reception.95
In January 1842, Emerson's first son died of a disease.The poem "Threnody" and the essay "Experience" were written by Emerson.In the same month, William James was born.
In November 1842, Bronson Alcott announced his plans to find a farm of 100 acres in good condition with good buildings and grounds.In May 1843, Charles Lane purchased a farm in Harvard, Massachusetts, which would become Fruitlands, a community based on utopian ideals.The farm would use no animals for labor and participants would not eat meat or wool.He felt sad for not engaging in the experiment himself.He didn't think Fruitlands would be a success.They always end their doctrine with "Give us much land and money", he wrote.Alcott admitted that he wasn't prepared for the difficulties of operating Fruitlands."None of us were prepared to live the life we dreamed of."He wrote that we fell apart.Alcott named his farm "Hillside" after the failure of the farm.[101]
The most original and thoughtful periodical ever published in this country ceased to exist in April 1844.104
Essays: Second Series was published in 1844.The collection included an essay entitled "Nature", a different work from the 1836 essay of the same name.
He was a popular lecturer in New England and the rest of the country.He was giving as many as 80 lectures a year by the 1850s.He spoke to the Boston Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.Many of the essays he wrote grew out of his lectures.In a typical winter lecture season, he charges between $10 and $50 for each appearance.This was more than what he made from other sources.For a series of six lectures, he earned as much as $900, and for a winter series in Boston he made more than $1,000.He gave over 1,500 lectures in his lifetime.He was able to expand his property by buying 11 acres of land by Walden Pond and a few more acres in a neighboring pine grove.He claimed to be the "landlord and waterlord of 14 acres, more or less".[101]
The French philosopher Victor Cousin wrote about Indian philosophy.In 1845, Emerson's journals show he was reading a book.Much of his writing has strong shades of nondualism.His essay "The Over-soul" is one of the clearest examples of this.
In parts and in particles, we live in succession.The soul of the whole is the wise silence, the universal beauty and the eternal one.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 is one.The whole of which are shining parts, is the soul, as we see the world piece by piece.[109]
"The purpose of life was spiritual transformation and direct experience of divine power, here and now on earth," said the central message from his Asian studies.[108]
He toured the British Isles in the 19th century.Between the French Revolution of 1848 and the June Days, he visited Paris.He saw the stumps of trees that had been cut down to make barricades.He stood on the Champ de Mars in the middle of mass celebrations for peace and labor.At the end of the year, we will see if the Revolution was worth the trees, he wrote in his journal.The trip left a mark on Emerson's later work.His 1856 book English Traits is based on observations he made while on the road.The American Civil War was a revolution that shared common ground with the European revolutions of the 19th century.[ 114]
No man can obey or abet the obeying of the act of Congress without losing self-respect and the name of a gentleman.115
People who could read and write made this filthy enactment.I won't obey it.[118]
The works and letters of Margaret Fuller were edited in February of 1852.Within a week of her death, her editor in New York suggested that a biography of Margaret and Her Friends should be prepared.The memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli were heavily edited or rewritten.The three editors didn't care about accuracy, they believed that public interest was temporary and that she would not survive as a historical figure.It was the best-selling biography of the decade and went through thirteen editions before the century ended.[118]
The innovative poetry collection Leaves of Grass was published in the 19th century.The five-page letter was sent in response to the positive response.The first edition of Leaves of Grass stirred up a lot of interest and was eventually issued a second edition."I greet you at the beginning of a great career" was printed in gold leaf on the cover of this edition.The letter was made public and later was more critical of the work.There are 127 words.
The great wilderness of upstate New York would be explored by the man in the summer of 1858.
The most illustrious intellectuals ever to camp out in the Adirondacks were joined by him.The Saturday Club invited but couldn't make the trip due to diverse reasons.[128]
The last Saturday of the month was when the literary club met at the Boston Parker House Hotel.The founding editor of the Crayon was William James Stillman.South of the Adirondack mountains, Stillman was born and grew up.He traveled there to paint the wilderness landscape and fish and hunt.The members of the Saturday Club were interested in his experiences in the wilderness.
William Stillman would lead the effort to organize a trip to the Adirondacks.They would travel by train, steam boat, stagecoach and canoe guide boats.The news that these men were living in the wilderness appeared in newspapers across the nation.This would be known as the Philosophers Camp.[130]
The 19th-century intellectual movement linked nature with art and literature.
Over the course of many years, scholars and biographers have written a lot about the life of Emerson, but little has been written about what has become known as the "Philosophers Camp".His epic poem "Adirondac" is like a journal of his day to day adventures in the wilderness with his fellow members of the Saturday Club.The two week camping excursion in the Adirondacks brought him face to face with a true wilderness, something he spoke of in his essay "Nature" published in 1836.He said that he finds something more dear and connate in the wilderness.[133]
He did not like being in the public eye and was hesitant about lecturing on slavery.In the years leading up to the Civil War, he gave a number of lectures.A number of his friends and family members were more active in opposing slavery than he was.During John Brown's visits to Concord, he welcomed him to his home.He was disappointed that Lincoln was more concerned about preserving the Union than he was about eliminating slavery.After the American Civil War broke out, he made it clear that he believed in immediate emancipation of the slaves.[137]
The Conduct of Life was his seventh collection of essays.His experience in the abolition ranks is a telling influence on his conclusions.The idea of war is more rich in the central tones than years of prosperity.[140]
He was in Washington, D.C at the end of January.On January 31, 1862, he gave a public lecture and said that the South called slavery an institution.I call it destitution.On February 1, his friend Charles Sumner took him to meet Lincoln at the White House.Lincoln had seen Emerson lecture and was familiar with his work.After this meeting, his doubts about Lincoln began to diminish.He spoke at a memorial service for Lincoln in Concord in 1865 and said that he didn't think the death of Lincoln would cause a lot of pain.Salmon P. Chase, the secretary of treasury, was one of the high-ranking government officials that Emerson met.[143]
Henry David Thoreau died of Tuberculosis at the age of 44.His funeral was delivered by him.Despite a falling-out that began in 1849 after Thoreau published A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, he still referred to him as his best friend.Nathaniel Hawthorne died two years after Thoreau.When Hawthorne was buried in Concord, he was laid to rest in a pomp of sunshine and verdure.146
In 1867, his health began to decline and he wrote less in his journals.In the summer of 1871 or the spring of 1872, he began to experience memory problems and aphasia.At the end of the decade, he forgot his name at times, but when he was asked how he felt he said, "I have lost my mental faculties but am perfectly well".[151]
Two years after the completion of the transcontinental railroad, Emerson took a trip on it.During a stop in Salt Lake City, he met a number of people, including Mormon leader Brigham Young.During his visit to California, he met a young and unknown John Muir, a signature event in his career.[151]
On July 24, 1872, the Concord home caught fire.After he called for help from his neighbors, they all tried to save as many objects as possible.The fire was put out by the son of a man.Donations were collected by friends to help the Emersons rebuild, including a personal donation of $1,000 from George Bancroft.Anne Lynch Botta, James T. Fields, and Annie Adams Fields invited the Emersons to stay with their family at the Old Manse.The fire ended the serious lecturing career of Emerson, who only lectured on special occasions and in front of familiar audiences.[157]
While the house was being rebuilt, he went to England, continental Europe, and Egypt.He left with his daughter Ellen on October 23, 1872, while his wife was at the Old Manse.On April 15, 1873, Ellen and her father returned to the United States on a ship with a friend.The school was canceled that day because the town celebrated Emerson's return.150
The anthology of poetry called Parnassus was published in late 1874 and included poems by Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Julia Dorr, Jean Ingelow, Lucy Larcom, Jones Very, and many others.The anthology was originally prepared in the fall of 1871 but was delayed when the publishers asked for revisions.[164]
He stopped appearing in public by 1879 because of his memory problems."Emerson is afraid to trust himself in society because of the failure of his memory and the difficulty he finds in getting the words he wants."It's hard to watch his embarrassment.On April 21, 1882, he was found to be suffering from pneumonia.He died six days later.There is a cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts.A white robe was given to him by the American sculptor Daniel Chester French.169
At the time, his religious views were considered radical.All things are connected to God according to him.Henry Ware Jr. said that Emerson was in danger of taking away "the Father of the Universe" and leaving "but a company of children in an orphan asylum".German philosophy and biblical criticism influenced him.The basis of Transcendentalism was that God does not have to reveal the truth but that it can be experienced from nature.When asked about his religious beliefs, he stated, "I am more of a Quaker than anything else."I believe that the small voice of Christ is still within us.[172]
In the 19th century, Emerson was a supporter of the spread of community libraries.In a thousand years, a company of the wisest and wittiest men that could be picked out of all civil countries have set in order the results of their learning and wisdom.[ 173]
At least one man may have had erotic thoughts about him.He was attracted to a young freshman named Martin Gay because he wrote sexually charged poetry.He had romantic interests in many women throughout his life, such as Anna Barker.[178]
According to his journals, he was interested in helping to free slaves even before he became an ardent abolitionist.In June 1856, shortly after Charles Sumner, a United States Senator, was beaten for his abolitionist views, Emerson lamented that he himself was not as committed to the cause.He wrote that there were men who took a bee-line to the inquisitor as soon as they were born....The way in which we are saved is wonderful.After Sumner's attack, he began to speak about slavery.He said at the meeting at Concord that he wanted to get rid of slavery or freedom.In his role as a minister, he used slavery as an example of human injustice.Emerson gave his first public antislavery address in the wake of the murder of a publisher.The other day, 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.The mob-murder of Lovejoy "sent a shock as of any earthquake throughout this continent", said John Quincy Adams.According to Emerson, reform would be achieved through moral agreement rather than militant action."We are indebted mainly to this movement, and to the continuers of it, for the popular discussion of every point of practical ethics", he said at a lecture in Concord.[181]
One of the most liberal democrats of his time believed that slavery should be abolished through the democratic process.While being an avid abolitionist who was known for his criticism of the legality of slavery, he struggled with the implications of race.His usual liberal leanings did not translate when it came to believing that all races had equal ability or function, which was a common conception for the period in which he lived.Critics believe that his views on race prevented him from becoming an abolitionist earlier in his life and from being more active in the antislavery movement.He was silent about race and slavery in his early life.When he was in his 30s, he began to publish writings on race and slavery, but he didn't become known as an antislavery activist until his 40s and 50s.[182]
When he was younger, he seemed to have developed a hierarchy of races based on faculty to reason, whether African slaves were equal to white men or not.It can't be said that the difference lies in the attribute of reason.I saw ten, twenty, a hundred large lipped, lowbrowed black men in the streets who did not exceed the sagacity of the elephant.Is it true that these were created to control this wise animal?The Africans will be so low as to make the difference between themselves and the beasts inconsiderable.[184]
When he was a supporter of slavery, he thought that the faculties of African slaves were not the same as those of white slave-owners.The belief in racial inferiorities did not make him a supporter of slavery."No ingenious sophistry can ever reconcile the unperverted mind to the pardon of Slavery; nothing but tremendous familiarity, and the bias of private interest", wrote Emerson later that year.The removal of people from their homeland, the treatment of slaves, and self-seeking benefactors were gross injustices.Slavery was a moral issue, while superiority of the races was an issue he tried to analyze from a scientific perspective.[185]
He thought he was a man of "Saxon descent".The inhabitants of the United States, especially the Northern portion, are descended from the people of England and have inherited their national character, according to a speech given in 1835.He saw ties between race based on national identity and the nature of the human being.White Americans who were native-born in the United States and had English ancestry were categorized by him as a separate race, which he thought made them superior to other nations.His idea of race was based on a shared culture.He believed that native-born Americans of English descent were superior to European immigrants, including the Irish, French, and Germans, as well as to English people from England.[182]
When he became more involved in the abolitionist movement, he began to more thoroughly analyze the implications of race and racial hierarchies, and that's when his ideas on race changed.The potential outcomes of racial conflicts were the focus of his beliefs.A common view in the United States at that time was that of nationalism and national superiority.A theory of race development was supported by contemporary theories.He believed that the current political battle and enslavement of other races would lead to the union of the United States.The progress of the nation would eventually be allowed by the conflicts of change.In his later work, Emerson seems to allow the idea that different races will eventually mix in America.The superior race would be to the advantage of the United States.[189]
As a lecturer and orator, he became the leading voice of intellectual culture in the United States.The editor of the Atlantic Monthly and the North American Review stated in his book that the most attractive lecturer in America was Emerson.Herman Melville initially 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.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 star.[191]
In the United States and around the world, Emerson's work influenced his peers and would continue to do so in the future.The godson of Emerson, William James, is one of the notable thinkers who recognize his influence.The most influential writer of 19th-century America is no longer disputed, though scholars still worry about him.While Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry James were in denial, they were all positive Emersonians.The essays were an "encumbrance" to T. S. Eliot.After surviving in the work of major American poets like Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens and Hart Crane, Waldo the Sage returned to his former glory.[194]
The prophet of the American Religion is often referred to as Mormonism and Christian Science, which arose largely in Emerson's lifetime, but also to mainline Protestant churches.The American version of Montaigne is the only equivalent reading experience that I know of, according to The Western Canon.The Best Poems of the English Language included several of Emerson's poems, but none of them were as good as the best of his essays.He believed that line lengths, rhythms, and phrases are determined by breath.195