Ralph Waldo Emerson

Life

Born: 1803

Died: 1884

Biography

Ralph Waldo Emerson (25 May 1803 – 27 April 1882) 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."

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."

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Settings of text by Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Father we thank Thee (Jessie Mae Jewitt White)
• Thine eyes still shined for me (Charles Hubert Hastings Parry)
• Virtues (John Manuel Pacheco)

Publications

Poems:

• "Concord Hymn"
• "The Rhodora"

• Complete works of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
• Collected works.

External links

• Quotations of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
• Another biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
• Biography and selected poems.
• Ralph Waldo Emerson resources.
• Lucid Cafe's page on Ralph Waldo Emerson.
• Some of Emerson's poems that became Art Songs.