Ralph Waldo Emerson
American essayist and lecturer who led the transcendentalist movement and championed the individual against conformity Show bio
Bio
Ralph Waldo Emerson lost his father, a Unitarian minister, just before turning eight. He became a pastor too, but doubted his faith as his young wife lay dying.
Emerson quit the church, writing that a good minister might need to leave the ministry. He toured Europe, and a Paris botanical garden showed him how all things connect. Emerson set out transcendentalism in his essay Nature, tying the soul to the surrounding world.
He mentored Henry David Thoreau, and the poet Walt Whitman called him his "master." Emerson wrote most of his essays as lectures, speaking to audiences instead of a congregation.
Books by Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Essays: First SeriesEssays: First Series
These twelve essays examine how people think, form friendships, and find meaning in everyday experience. Self-Reliance turns the command "Trust thyself" into a challenge to accepted opinions.
- NatureNature
A short essay argues that time alone in nature can show us truths we cannot learn from books. Walking across an empty field, Emerson feels he becomes a transparent eyeball that sees all and is nothing.