Ralph Waldo Emmerson Essay, Research Paper

Ralph Waldo Emerson ??was truly one of our great geniuses? even though he

may have a short biography (Hodgins 212). But as Emerson once said himself,

?Great geniuses have the shortest biographies.? Emerson was also a major

leader of ?the philosophical movement of Transcendentalism?. (Encarta 1)

Transcendentalism was belief in a higher reality than that found everyday life

that a human can achieve. Biographical Information Emerson was born on May 25,

1803 in Boston, Massachusetts. His father died when he was young and his mother

was left with him and his four other siblings. At the age of 18 he graduated

from Harvard University and was a teacher for three years in Boston. Then in

1825 he entered Harvard Divinity School and preached for three years. At the age

of 29 he resigned for ministry, partly because of the death of his wife after

only 17 months of marriage. In 1835 he married Lydia Jackson and started to

lecture. Then in 1836, he helped to start the Transcendental Club. The

Transcendental Club was formed for authors that were part of this historical

movement. Emerson was a big part of this and practically initiated the entire

club. As we know he was already a major part of the movement and know got

himself involved more. Many people and ways of life throughout his career

including Neoplatonism, the Hindu religion, Plato and even his wife influenced

Emerson. He also inspired many Transcendentalists like Thoreau. Emerson didn?t

win any major awards, but he did win the love and appreciation of his readers.

Literary Information Emerson wrote many genres of writing including poetry and

sermons, but his best writing is found in his essays. Even though he is noted

for his essays, he was also a strong force in poetry. Emerson was known for

presenting ideas in an expressive style. He wrote about numerous issues

including nature, society, conspiracy and freedom. After returning to America

after a visit to England, he wrote for the abolitionist cause, which was

eliminating slavery. Emerson used these ideas in his 1837 lecture ?The

American Scholar,? which he presented before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of

Harvard. In it he talked about Americans becoming more intelligently

independent. In a second address, commonly referred to as the ?Address at

Divinity College,? given in 1838 to the graduating class of Cambridge Divinity

College, brought about a problem because it attacked religion and pushed

independence. Some of Emerson?s famous titles are ?Essays?, which was

published in 1844, Poems, which was published in 1847, ?Nature: Addresses and

Lectures?, 1849, and ?Representative Men?, 1850. In 1860, he published

?Conduct of Life?, which was the first of his works to receive immediate

popularity. In these works you were able to see the influence Plato and

Neoplatonism had of him. ?Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher. He developed

the notion of a higher reality that exists beyond the powers of human

comprehension. Plato explained that the idea of absolute goodness transcends

human description. Neoplantonism was a collective designation for the

philosophical and religious doctrines of a heterogeneous school of speculative

thinkers who sought to develop and synthesize the metaphysical ideas of Plato?

(Encarta). Ralph Waldo Emerson found motivation to write in anything he did,

whether it was visiting England, the Transcendental Movement or if it was

abolishing slavery. He didn?t receive much fame during his lifetime, but after

he passed away in1882, he was remembered for all of his writing, not just one

good essay. ?Emerson was the most important figure during the Romantic

Period? (Myerson 3). He left his mark on writing, especially the Romantic

Period.

Bibliography

?Emerson, Ralph Waldo.? Microsoft Encarta. CD-ROM. 1998 ed. ?Emerson,

Ralph Waldo.? Lkd. Columbia University Homepage, at ?ILT Web.? *http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/acedemic/digitexts/emerson/bio_emerson.html

* Hodgins, Francis. ed. Adventures in American Literature. Orlando: Harcourt,

1989. Myerson, Joel. ?Ralph Waldo Emerson.? Grolier Encyclopedia. CD-ROM.

1993 ed.