Ralph Waldo Emerson (25 May 1803 – 27 April 1882) was
an American essayist, philosopher and poet, best remembered for leading the
Transcendentalist movement of the early 19th century. His teachings directly
influenced the growing New Thought movement of the mid 1800s, while he was seen
as a champion of individualism and prescient critic of the countervailing
pressures of society.
Emerson gradually moved away from the religious and
social beliefs of his contemporaries, formulating and expressing the philosophy
of Transcendentalism in his 1836 essay, Nature. As a result of this ground
breaking work he gave a speech entitled The American Scholar in 1837, which
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. considered to be
Considered one of the great orators of the time,
Emerson's enthusiasm and respect for his audience enraptured crowds. His
support for abolitionism late in life created controversy, and at times he was
subject to abuse from crowds while speaking on the topic, however this was not
always the case. When asked to sum up his work, he said his central doctrine
was "the infinitude of the private man."
Emerson and other like-minded intellectuals founded the
Transcendental Club, which served as a center for the movement. Its first
official meeting was held on September 19, 1836. Emerson anonymously published
his first essay, Nature, in September 1836. A year later, on August 31, 1837,
Emerson delivered his now-famous Phi Beta Kappa address, The American Scholar, then known as "An Oration, Delivered
before the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge"; it was renamed for a
collection of essays in 1849. In the speech, Emerson declared literary
independence in the
Rubies
They brought me rubies from the mine,
And held them to the sun;
I said, they are drops of frozen wine
From
I looked again,—I thought them hearts
Of friends to friends unknown;
Tides that should warm each neighboring life
Are locked in sparkling stone.
But fire to thaw that ruddy snow,
To break enchanted ice,
And give love's scarlet tides to flow,—
When shall that sun arise?
Brahma
If the red slayer think he slays,
Or if the slain think he is slain,
They know not well the subtle ways
I keep, and pass, and turn again.
Far or forgot to me is near;
Shadow and sunlight are the same;
The vanished gods to me appear;
And one to me are shame and fame.
They recon ill who leave me out;
When me they fly, I am the wings;
I am the doubter and the doubt,
I am the hymn the Brahmin sings.
The strong gods pine for my abode,
And pine in vain the sacred Seven;
But thou, meek lover of the good!
Find me, and turn thy back on heaven.
Fable
The mountain and the squirrel
Had a quarrel;
And the former called the latter "Little
Prig."
Bun replied,
"You are doubtless very big;
But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken in together
To make up a year
And a sphere.
And I think it's no disgrace
To occupy my place.
If I'm not so large as you,
You are not so small as I,
And not half so spry.
I'll not deny you make
A very pretty squirrel track;
Talents differ: all is well and wisely put;
If I cannot carry forests on my back,
Neither can you crack a nut."
Two Rivers
Thy summer voice, Musketaquit,
Repeats the music of the rain;
But sweeter rivers pulsing flit
Through thee, as thou through the Concord Plain.
Thou in thy narrow banks art pent:
The stream I love unbounded goes
Through flood and sea and firmament;
Through light, through life, it forward flows.
I see the inundation sweet,
I hear the spending of the steam
Through years, through men, through Nature fleet,
Through love and thought, through power and dream.
Musketaquit, a goblin strong,
Of shard and flint makes jewels gay;
They lose their grief who hear his song,
And where he winds is the day of day.
So forth and brighter fares my stream,—
Who drink it shall not thirst again;
No darkness taints its equal gleam,
And ages drop in it like rain.