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Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Ralph Waldo Emerson
Born(1803-05-25)May 25, 1803
Boston, Massachusetts
DiedApril 27, 1882(1882-04-27) (aged 78)
Concord, Massachusetts
OccupationAuthor, Transcendentalist,philosopher, essayist, poet
Nationality United States
Literary movementTranscendentalism

Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, poet, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early 19th century.

Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay, Nature. As a result of this ground breaking work he gave a speech entitled The American Scholar in 1837, which is considered to be America's "Intellectual Declaration of Independence." He once said "Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you."

Considered one of the great orators of the time, Emerson's enthusiasm and respect for his audience enraptured crowds. His support for abolitionism late in life created controversy, and 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."

Biography

Emerson was born in Boston on May 25, 1803, son of the Rev. William Emerson, a Unitarian minister[1] in a famous line of ministers. Emerson's father, who called his son "a rather dull scholar", died in 1811, less than two weeks short of Emerson's 8th birthday. The young Emerson was subsequently sent to the Boston Latin School in 1812 at the age of nine. In October 1817, at fourteen, Emerson went to Harvard College and was appointed the Freshman's President, a position which gave him a room free of charge. He waited tables at Commons, a dining hall at Harvard, reducing the cost of his board to one quarter of the full fee, and he received a scholarship. To complement his meager salary, he tutored and taught during the winter vacation at his Uncle Ripley's school in Waltham, Massachusetts.

After Emerson graduated from Harvard in 1821 at the age of eighteen, he assisted his brother in a school for young ladies established in their mother's house, after he had established his own school in Chelmsford; when his brother went to Göttingen 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, and emerged as a Unitarian minister in 1829. A dispute with church officials over the administration of the Communion service, and misgivings about public prayer led to his resignation in 1832.

Emerson met his first wife Ellen Louisa Tucker in Concord, New Hampshire and married her when she was 18.[2] She died of tuberculosis at the age of 20 on February 8, 1831. Emerson was heavily affected by her death, visiting her grave daily and once even opening her coffin to see for himself that she was dead.[3] Despite his marriage, there is evidence pointing to Emerson being bisexual.[4] During early years at Harvard, he found himself 'strangely attracted' to a young freshman named Martin Gay about whom he wrote sexually charged poetry.[5][6] Gay would be only the first of his infatuations and interests, with Nathaniel Hawthorne numbered among them.[7]

Emerson toured Europe in 1832 and later wrote of his travels in English Traits (1856). During this trip, he met William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Stuart Mill, and Thomas Carlyle. Emerson maintained contact with Carlyle until the latter's death in 1881. He also served as Carlyle's agent in the U.S. His travels abroad brought him to England, France (in 1848), Italy, and the Middle East.

In 1835, Emerson bought a house on the Cambridge and Concord Turnpike in Concord, Massachusetts, now open to the public as the Ralph Waldo Emerson House, and quickly became one of the leading citizens in the town. He married his second wife Lydia Jackson in Concord in 1835. He called her Lydian and she called him Mr. Emerson. Their children were Waldo, Ellen, Edith, and Edward Waldo Emerson. Ellen was named for his first wife, at Lydia's suggestion.

Emerson lived a financially conservative lifestyle[8] He had inherited some wealth after his wife's death, though he brought a lawsuit against the Tucker family in 1836 to get it.[9] He did, however, pay the rent of his neighbor Bronson Alcott.[10]

Emerson is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Massachusetts.


Selected works

Collections

Essays

Poems

Named after Emerson

  • Emerson Unitarian Universalist Association Professorship. 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.[11] The Emerson Chair is expected to be occupied in the fall of 2007 or soon thereafter.
  • Emersonian Fraternity (Phi Tau Nu), a local fraternity at Hope College which started as literary society in 1919 following the works of Emerson. The society developed into a fraternity in 1929 and has Emerson as its patron saint.
  • The Emerson Literary Society at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY.
  • Camp Emerson, a camp based in the Berkshires.
  • Ralph Ellison, the award-winning writer and scholar, was named Ralph Waldo Ellison by his father.
  • The town of Emerson, Manitoba, Canada.
  • Mount Emerson, regarded as part of the "Evolution Range" of the High Sierra Nevada near Bishop, California.
  • Emerson Hospital in Concord, Massachusetts.
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary and Middle School in Detroit, MI.
  • Emerson String Quartet

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Cheevers, 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. Large print edition. p. 76. ISBN 078629521X.
  2. ^ Cheevers, 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. Large print edition. p. 78. ISBN 078629521X.
  3. ^ Cheevers, 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. Large print edition. p. 79. ISBN 078629521X.
  4. ^ Shand-Tucci, Douglas (2003). The Crimson Letter. New York: St Martens Press. pp. 15–16. ISBN 0-312-19896-5.
  5. ^ Kaplan, Justin. Walt Whitman: A Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979. p. 248. ISBN 0671225421
  6. ^ Richardson, Jr., Robert D (1995). Emerson: The Mind on Fire. University of California Press. pp. p. 9. ISBN 0520206894. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  7. ^ Kaplan, Justin (1980). Walt Whitman, A Life. New York: Simon and Schuster. pp. p.249. ISBN 0060535113. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  8. ^ Cheevers, 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. Large print edition. p. 86. ISBN 078629521X.
  9. ^ Cheevers, 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. Large print edition. p. 82. ISBN 078629521X.
  10. ^ Cheevers, 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. Large print edition. p. 86. ISBN 078629521X.
  11. ^ "Emerson Unitarian Universalist Association Professorship Established at Harvard Divinity School" (Press release). Harvard Divinity School. May 2006. Retrieved 2007-02-22.

Further reading

  • Strunk, William (2006). The Classics of Style. The American Academic Press. ISBN 0-9787282-0-3. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Soressi, B. (2004). Ralph Waldo Emerson (in Italian). Armando. ISBN 88-8358-585-2. with preface by A. Ferrara
  • Mariani, G. (2004). Mariani, G.; Di Loreto, S.; Martinez, C.; Scannavini, A.; Tattoni, I.; (ed.). Emerson at 200 Proceedings of the International Bicentennial Conference (Rome, 16-18 October 2003). Aracne. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
  • Cavell, S. (2003). Emerson Transcendental Etudes. Stanford UP. ISBN 0-6742672-0-6. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Geldard, Richard G. (2001). Spiritual Teachings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Lindisfarne Books. ISBN 0-9402625-9-2. with introduction by Robert Richardson
  • Richardson, Jr., Robert D. (1995). Emerson: The Mind on Fire. University of California Press. ISBN 0-5202068-9-4.
  • Whicher, Stephen E. (1950). Freedom and Fate. An Inner Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Univ of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122704-5-2. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  • Thurin, Erik (1981). Emerson As Priest of Pan: A Study in the Metaphysics of Sex. Lawrence: Regents Press of Kansas. ISBN 0-7006021-6-X.
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