EMERSON 



2022 



EMERSON 



freedom, both in the intellectual and the re- 

 ligious life, and this ideal, which he consistently 

 held up to the youth of his country throughout 



RALPH WALDO EMERSON 

 "He was loved and reverenced as few men have 

 been ; his reputation shed lustre upon his coun- 

 try, and the stimulus he imparted to pure living 

 and high thinking was extraordinary." 



his career, found perfect expression in his own 

 life and character. In the closing lines of his 

 inspiring essay on "Self Reliance" may be 

 found the summary of his creed: 



In the Will work and acquire, and thou hast 

 chained the wheel of Chance, and shalt sit here- 

 after out of fear from her rotations. A political 

 victory, a rise of rents, the recovery' of your 

 sick, or the return of your absent friend, or some 

 other favorable event, raises your spirits, and 

 you think good days are preparing for you. Do 

 not believe it. Nothing can bring you peace but 

 yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the 

 triumph of your principles. 



Ralph Waldo Emerson was born at Boston, 

 on May 25, 1803. His father, a scholarly and 

 cultured minister of the Unitarian faith, was 

 one of a long line of Emersons who had 

 adopted the ministry as a calling. Ralph en- 

 tered Harvard College when he was fourteen 

 years old, graduating four years later, and after 

 leaving college he taught school and studied 

 theology. In 1826 he was ordained a Unitarian 

 minister, soon becoming pastor of one of the 

 leading churches of that denomination in New 

 England, the Second Church of Boston. 

 Though he was deeply spiritual, his independ- 

 ent spirit chafed at some of the Church 



forms, and in 1832 he bade his people farewell 

 and retired from the ministry. Thereafter his 

 life work was that of a lecturer and writer. 



In 1833 Emerson made the first of several 

 visits to Europe. There he met Landor, Cole- 

 ridge, Wordsworth and Carlyle, and with the 

 latter formed a' lifelong friendship. In 1835 

 he married and removed to Concord, which 

 was to be his home for the rest of his life, and 

 where he had as neighbors the Alcotts, Haw- 

 thorne and Thoreau; the same year he began 

 a course of lectures in Boston on literary and 

 philosophical subjects. These were continued 

 until 1837, the year in which he delivered at 

 Harvard College his famous oration on The 

 American Scholar, called by Oliver Wendell 

 Holmes the "intellectual declaration of inde- 

 pendence for America." Meantime, in 1836, 

 he had published his first book, Nature, which 

 sets forth more completely than any of his 

 other works his doctrine of individual freedom. 



The first series of his Essays, which appeared 

 in 1841, contains some of his best-known dis- 

 courses, such as "Self-Reliance," "Compensa- 

 tion" and "The Over-Soul." In 1844 a second 

 series was published. By this time he had 

 become identified with that group of New Eng- 

 land idealists who are known as Transcendental- 

 ists (see TRANSCENDENTALISM), and for a brief 

 period he edited their official journal, The 

 Dial. In 1847, the year in which his first vol- 

 ume of poems was published, he visited Europe 

 again, and during his sojourn in England de- 

 livered a course of lectures, some of which may 

 be found in his Representative Men (1850). 

 This journey also inspired English Traits 

 (1856), a brilliant book of travel. Other 

 notable prose writings include Conduct of Life 



EMERSON'S HOME 



"The house in Concord .... was the 

 goal of pilgrims from all civilized nations." 



and Society and Solitude. He was continually 

 before the' public as a writer and lecturer until 

 about 1870, when his health began to fail. 

 His last years were spent quietly at Concord, 



