Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist and poet, who was one of the first American authors to influence Europe. When Emerson was eighteen he graduated from Harvard University. After graduation, he decided to teach school in Boston until he was twenty-one. In 1825 he entered Harvard Divinity School, and a year he was "approbated to preach by the Middlesex Association of Ministers. After this he would give sermons in churches around the Boston area every once in a while. Then in 1829 he became minister of the 2nd Church of the Boston area.
Emerson eventually married a woman named Ellen Tucker, but she died seventeen months later. After her death he resigned from his Pastoral Appointment and went to tour England. During his tour he met many known people who influenced his works and ideas. When he returned in 1833, he became a lecturer in Boston. His lectures focused on topics like "The Philosophy of History ", Human History", Human Culture", Human Life", and "The Present Age". Most of his lectures were based on his journals from college. In 1836 his first book, nature, was published. Eventually the book got the credit it deserved and is now considered one of his most significant works. The book talked a lot about transcendentalism. After the publication of the book a discussion group was formed, and Emerson was its leader. After a while it became the "Transcendental Club". The club started a magazine called The Dial, which talked about literature and philosophy. Emerson edited this magazine from 1842 to 1844.
In 1837 Emerson gave a famous speech at Harvard called "The American Scholar". In this speech he outlined his philosophy of humanism. One of his main topics was urging his listeners to know the past from books, and to learn directly from life.
In 1841 and 1844, he wrote two more books focusing on "Compensation, "Siritual Laws," and "The Over-Soul". In Experience, one of his best essays he showed how doubts are conquered through faith. Also in Politics and New England Reformers, he expressed his social philosophy. In 1850 Emerson put together Representative Men, which was a series of semibiographical, semicritical essays on Plato, Emanuel Swedenborg, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Napoleon, and Goethe. Emerson carried out his thesis that "great men" teach us to correct the delirium of the animal spirits.
Emerson also worked with poetry some of his life. Two works, which appeared in his lifetime were Poems,1846, and May-Day, 1867, contains some of the greatest poetry of the 1800's.
Emerson was a great writer, Philosopher and contributer to literature. His works and Philosophies will be studied and used for many years to come. Emerson died on April 27, 1882, and was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetary in Concord, Massachusetts.
Works Cited:
Rood, L. Karen. American Literary Almanac. New York: Bruccoli Clark Layman, Inc., 1988
"Emerson." Encarta. 1994 ed.
"Emerson." Prentice Hall Literature. New Jersey: Prentice -Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, 1991
Matt Coy