Essays and Poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Digireads.com Publishing, 2013 - 274 pages
During the 1800s in America, the rise of technology allowed people to have more possessions than ever before, and at a cheaper cost. However, a group known as the Transcendentalists believed that possessions created vanity. Instead, they valued the individual's relationship with divinity. One of the movements most famous members, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote prolifically about his beliefs and experiences, and many of those writings have been chronicled in "Essays & Poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson." It is in the first essay, "Nature," that Emerson publicly acknowledges the transcendental lifestyle. He describes how man-made technology detracts from the beauty of the real world. Through nature, Emerson says that people can find spirituality and wholeness. This exploration of the natural world continues in his other essays and speeches "An American Scholar," and "Circles" as well as in the poem "The Rhodora." The lyrics to "Concord Hymn" are also included in the collection. The song was written for a dedication ceremony of a battle monument commemorating the Battle of Concord. The lyrics celebrate the spirit of the American battle and praise the soldiers who lost their lives for freedom and revolution. It was in this song that the phrase "the shot heard 'round the world" became a part of American folklore and popularity. Emerson also explored the American political spectrum in his essay "Politics." The author believed that, through individual growth and wisdom, it would be possible for Americans to abolish government and rule autonomously. Until that point, though, the State needed to protect the individuals' rights. Readers can explore Emerson's philosophies, ideas and more in the expansive collection of "Essays & Poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson."

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About the author (2013)

Known primarily as the leader of the philosophical movement transcendentalism, which stresses the ties of humans to nature, Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet and essayist, was born in Boston in 1803. From a long line of religious leaders, Emerson became the minister of the Second Church (Unitarian) in 1829. He left the church in 1832 because of profound differences in interpretation and doubts about church doctrine. He visited England and met with British writers and philosophers. It was during this first excursion abroad that Emerson formulated his ideas for Self-Reliance. He returned to the United States in 1833 and settled in Concord, Massachusetts. He began lecturing in Boston. His first book, Nature (1836), published anonymously, detailed his belief and has come to be regarded as his most significant original work on the essence of his philosophy of transcendentalism. The first volume of Essays (1841) contained some of Emerson's most popular works, including the renowned Self-Reliance. Emerson befriended and influenced a number of American authors including Henry David Thoreau. It was Emerson's practice of keeping a journal that inspired Thoreau to do the same and set the stage for Thoreau's experiences at Walden Pond. Emerson married twice (his first wife Ellen died in 1831 of tuberculosis) and had four children (two boys and two girls) with his second wife, Lydia. His first born, Waldo, died at age six. Emerson died in Concord on April 27, 1882 at the age of 78 due to pneumonia and is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts.

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