Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882)
Ralph Emerson was born in Boston, Massachusetts on May 25, 1803, son a Unitarian minister who descended from a well-known line of ministers, who later died of stomach cancer. Ralph Waldo was the second of five sons who survived into adulthood; the rest all died in childhood. He was an American essayist, philosopher, poet, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early 19th century. His teachings directly influenced the growing New Thought movement of the mid 1800s.
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 Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. considered to be America’s “Intellectual Declaration of Independence”. Emerson once said: “Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.”
He was 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 at times he was subject to abuse from crowds while speaking on the topic, however this was not always the case. When asked to sum up his work, he said his central doctrine was “the infinitude of the private man.”
I have listed a few of Ralph Emerson's work below, for anyone interested in picking his brain by reading more on him, and some of his work, such as: essays, poems and books. Any of his material is sure to make you a fan, like I am.. So read away...I tell you, read away...
•* “Self-Reliance”
•* “Compensation”
•* “The Over-Soul”
•* “The Poet”
•* “Experience”
•* “Nature (book)”
•* “The American Scholar”
•* “Concord Hymn”
•* “The Rhodora”
•* Classical liberalism
•* Libertarianism•* Contributions to liberal theory
•* Ralph Waldo Emerson House
•* Emerson literary society
•* Unitarianism
•* New Thought
•* Unity Church
•* Religious Science
•* Divine Science
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