Ralph Waldo Emerson

“To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as

much as from his chamber as from his

society.”“A man is a god in ruins.”

“The civilized man has built a coach, but has

lost the use of his feet.”

1803-1882

•an essayist•a poet•an orator•a philosopher

•He entered Harvard at age 14.•Entered Harvard Divinity School and became a pastor.•Resigned from the ministry after his first wife’s death to travel Europe.

•During the 1830’s and 1840’s, Emerson and a small group of intellectuals gathered to discuss philosophy, religion and literature.

•This group was known as the TRANSCENDENTAL CLUB and they developed a system of philosophy that stressed intuition, individuality and self-reliance.

Transcendentalism• an intellectual movement that directly or

indirectly affected most of the writers of the New England Renaissance.

• Human senses can know only physical reality

• The fundamental truths of being and the universe lie outside the reach of of the senses and can be grasped only through intuition.

• They focused their attention on the human spirit.

• They were interested in the natural world and its relationship to humanity.

• If they explored nature thoroughly, they would come to know themselves and universal truths better

• They discovered the human spirit is reflected in nature.

• All forms of being- GOD, NATURE, and HUMANITY - are spiritually united through a shared universal soul, or Over-soul.

• The Over-soul was “a universal and benign omnipresence....a God known to men only in moments of mystic enthusiasm, whose visitations leave them altered, self-reliant, and purified of petty aims.”

• The transcendental movement produced a native blend that was romantic, intuitive, mystical and considerably easier to recognize than to define.

• It is difficult to pin down.

• The movement meant intense individualism and self-reliance.

“The Divinity School Address”

• Emerson called for the rejection of institutional religion in favor of a personal relation with God.

• Religious truth was an “intuition. It cannot be received at second hand”

• He called on the students before him to “cast behind…all conformity and acquaint men at first hand with the Deity.”

• Three decades passed before he was allowed to speak at Harvard again…

• “A foolish consistency in the hobgoblin of little minds”- Ralph Waldo Emerson