Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo EmersonModern Library, 1965 - 479 pages "Standing on the bare ground--my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space--all mean egotism vanishes," Emerson wrote in Nature, his statement of the principles of transcendentalism. "I become a transparent eyeball." Nature, published in 1836 when Emerson was thirty-three, is collected here with his book of observations on the English people; a famous sermon against administering communion in church; a sketch of his step-grandfather; the eulogy he delivered at the funeral of his Concord friend and neighbor Henry David Thoreau; twenty-three poems; and addresses, lectures, and essays on such subjects as slavery, self-reliance, and organized Christianity's obsession with the person of Jesus. Emerson called transcendentalism another word for idealism--"a hypothesis to account for nature by other principles than those of carpentry and chemistry." Considered intensely radical at a time when materialism and a rigid form of Christianity were ascendant, he urged Americans to "enjoy an original relation to the universe." These selections span Emerson's career as author and traveling lecturer, and chart his evolving thought: the concepts of the "oversoul", individualism without egotism, and antimaterialism; a belief in intuition, independence, and "the splendid labyrinth of one's own perceptions." |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
action Aeschylus affection animal appear beauty become behold better black event character church conversation dæmon divine doctrine earth Egyptian hieroglyphics Emerson Epaminondas eternal expression fable fact faculties universally faith fear feel genius gift give god in ruin Goethe hand heart heaven hour human individual inspiration intellect Jesus labor light live look Lord's Supper man's manner means mind moral nature never noble numbers objects Over-Soul pass Passover perception perfect persons Phidias philosophy Plato Plotinus Plutarch poet poetry prudence Ralph Waldo Emerson reason relation religion secret seems seen sense sentiment shines society Sophocles soul speak spirit stand stars sweet symbols teach thee things thou thought tion to-day Transcendentalist true truth universal virtue whilst whole wisdom wise words worship Xenophon Zoroaster