Ralph Waldo Emerson Biography

American Essayist, Poet, and Transcendentalist

May 26, 2008
Tel Asiado

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Transcendentalist & Writer - Wikimedia Commons

Biography and works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of America's greatest poets and essayists, 19th century leader of transcendentalism.

R. W. Emerson was an important 19th-century American poet and essayist, a transcendentalist, and an orator. His ideas had a strong influence on the development of American culture. He is famous for Nature, his first book. Henry David Thoreau became his follower and friend, and acquaintance of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Early Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born on May 25, 1803, the son of a minister, raised in Boston, Massachusetts. Like his father, he attended Harvard and then entered the ministry. He was appointed pastor of the Second Unitarian church in Boston, but three years later, at the age of 29, he had a crisis of faith and left the church. A year later, he went to Europe, visited England, and became a close friend of the writer Thomas Carlyle, with whom he corresponded for almost 38 years.

R.W. Emerson Works

When he went back to the United States, Emerson settled in Concord, Massachusetts, and began a successful career as a lecturer and essayist. His first book Nature, a prose rhapsody, published when he was 33, summed up his ideas. This was followed by "The American Scholar," an oration delivered at Harvard. Emerson's address in 1838 before the Divinity Class in Cambridge made a sensation, especially among the Unitarians.

Emerson's Philosophy of Transcendentalism

Emerson formulated the philosophy of transcendentalism. He was an idealist who advocated self-reliance, spiritual independence, and who rejected traditional authority. Famous for the often-quoted: "Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you," Emerson believed that people should rely on their own reason to learn what is right, and to live a simple life in harmony with nature and with others.

Emerson Lectures, Poems and Essays

He became famous for his lectures. He encouraged American scholars to break free of European influences and create a new American culture. His first collection of essays, in which he explored his ideas more fully, was published when he was 38. They were widely read, and further collections followed.

His influence in poetry includes Wordsworth and Coleridge. At the age of 44, he published his first collection of poetry. Later he became involved in the anti-slavery movement and worked for women's rights. In 1849, he revisited England to lecture on Representative Men.

He died at the age of 78, on April 27, 1882.