: this sectionincludes background material on the philosophical, religious and literarymovement called Transcendentalism. You'll find definitions and descriptions byEmerson and others in the Transcendentalist circle, as well as encyclopediadefinitions and a summary,
Perhaps the most powerful personal influence on him for years was his intellectual, eccentric, and death-obsessed Puritanical aunt, Yet Emerson often confessed to an innate optimism, even occasional "silliness." His undergraduate career at Harvard was not illustrious, and his studies at the Harvard Divinity School were truncated by vision problems, but he was ordained a minister of the Second Church in Boston, shortly before marrying Ellen Tucker in 1829.
![[Jone Johnson Lewis] A reliable and searchable source for many Emerson texts, with discussion.](/images/r-w-emerson-essays-second-series.jpg)
: everything you've everwanted to find on Emerson - if it's on the net, and useful, it's probably listedhere. Links to information on the life and career of Emerson, exhaustive listsof online versions of his writings, study guides for and critical analysis ofhis writings, and much, much more. Award-winning Emerson page, best of theweb since 1995.
The present edition, drawing on the vast body of Emerson scholarship of the last forty years, incorporates all the textual changes Emerson made or demonstrably intended to make after 1844. It records variant wordings and recounts the development of the text before and after publication. A list of parallel passages makes it possible to trace Emerson’s extensive use of material from his journals, notebooks, and lectures. Endnotes provide information about people, events, and now-obscure terms. A brief historical introduction places the book in the context of the years during which it was written, the time of , , and the death of Emerson’s five year-old son.
: another best of the web page, since 1995. Like the Emersonpage, this page includes links to material on Thoreau's life and works, analysisand study guides, portraits and related information.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was known first as an orator. Emerson converted many of his orations in to essays. A student of Emerson's essays will also want to study Emerson's since he often worked out in his journal entries ideas that later appear in his orations and essays.
We've organized this site to provide both original content and links toother material on the internet for study of the Transcendentalists: RalphWaldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller and others. We'll be adding more original content over time, so keep visiting and check for what we've added.
In 1835 he married ; they lived in Concord and had four children while he settled into his life of conversations, reading and writing, and lecturing, which furnished a comfortable income. The Emerson house was a busy one, with friends like Elizabeth Hoar, Margaret Fuller, and Henry Thoreau staying for months to help out and talk.
He, Bronson Alcott, and George Ripley decided to begin a magazine, , with Margaret Fuller editing, in 1840; Emerson would edit the final two years, ending in 1844, and he wrote for many issues.
His (first series) were published in 1841. Meanwhile, tragedy struck with the sudden death of his five-year old son Waldo in 1842, soon after the death of John Thoreau from lockjaw, and a darker, tougher strain appears in Emerson's writing, beginning with his memorializing poem, But Emerson pulled himself together to give a series of lectures in New York and in 1844 he had a prepared.
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: This page includes a random quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, and also provides an easy way to add a similar random quote to your own personal, educational or nonprofit web page.
From ESSAYS: Second Series
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
A moody child and wildly wise
Pursued the game with joyful eyes,
Which chose, like meteors, their way,
And rived the dark with private ray:
They overleapt the horizon's edge,
Searched with Apollo's privilege;
Through man, and woman, and sea, and star,
Saw the dance of nature forward far;
Through worlds, and races, and terms, and times,
Saw musical order, and pairing rhymes.
After a period of teaching, Emerson returned to Harvard to join the Divinity School where he was less than a perfect student owing to his poor health and a lack of conviction in religious dogma.