NATURE
BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was the son of
Boston Unitarian minister. His father died when he
was seven and plunged the family into an uncertain
financial future. Still, Emerson was able to attend
Harvard (which he afforded with a series of odd jobs)
and served as Class Poet of 1821. Most of Emerson’s
famous essays were first written as lectures. Emerson
toured the world as a popular speaker and became
close friends with many English Romantic writers,
notably Thomas Carlisle. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
called Emerson’s lecture “The American Scholar” our
“Intellectual Declaration of Independence.” He would
go on to outline his philosophy of Transcendentalism
in works such as “Nature” and “Self-Reliance.”
Emerson also served as a mentor to other
Transcendentalist thinkers, such as Henry David
Thoreau, Bronson Alcott, and others.