Ralph Waldo Emerson
(1803–1882)

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an essayist, a poet, an orator, and, more than anything else, a philosopher. Throughout the course of his life, Emerson's mind was constantly in motion, bringing forth new ideas and refining and redefining his view of the world. As a result, Emerson's philosophy was reflected in all of his work— his essays, his poems, and his lectures.

Emerson was born in Boston, the son of a Unitarian minister. When Emerson was eight, his father died, leaving the family in a state of poverty. Despite his family's financial difficulties, Emerson received a thorough education. At the age of 14, he entered Harvard, where he began recording his ideas in a journal. After his graduation, Emerson taught for several years before deciding to become a minister. In 1825, Emerson entered Harvard Divinity School. Four years later, he became the pastor of the Second Church of Boston.

Saddened by the death of his young wife, Ellen, and dissatisfied with the spiritual restrictions of Unitarianism, Emerson resigned his ministry in 1832. Following his resignation, Emerson traveled to Europe, where he met the English poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. When Emerson returned to America, he settled in Concord, Massachusetts, remarried, and began his lifelong career of writing and lecturing.

During the 1830s and 1840s, Emerson and a small group of intellectuals gathered regularly to discuss philosophy, religion, and literature. This group, which came to be known as the Transcendental Club, developed a philosophical system that stressed intuition, individuality, and self-reliance. In 1836, Emerson—the group's most influential member—published Nature, a lengthy essay that became the Transcendental Club's unofficial statement of belief.

Emerson first achieved national fame in 1841 when he published Essays, a collection of essays based on material from his journals and lectures. Emerson went on to publish several more volumes of essays, including Essays, Second Volume (1844), Representative Man (1849), and The Conduct of Life (1860). Though Emerson was known mostly for his essays and lectures, he also published two successful volumes of poetry, Poems (1847) and May-Day and Other Pieces (1867).

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