By Ralph Waldo Emerson, eBook Made by Pennsylvania State University

"I was simmering, simmering, simmering. Emerson brought me to a boil." --Walt Whitman

As one of the architects of the transcendentalist movement, Emerson embraced a philosophy that championed the individual, emphasized independent thought, and prized "the splendid labyrinth of one's own perceptions." More than any writer of his time, he forged a style distinct from his European predecessors and embodied and defined what it meant to be an American. Matthew Arnold called Emerson's essays "the most important work done in prose."

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Ralph Waldo Emerson, Philosopher / Clergyman / Orator

Born: 25 May 1803
Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts
Died: 27 April 1882
Best Known As: A founder of Transcendentalism

Emerson's father was the seventh in an unbroken line of ministers dating back to Puritan days, and after attending Harvard Emerson himself became a Unitarian minister. After the death of his young wife and two elder brothers, Emerson began to doubt his faith and in 1832 resigned his ministry. Eventually he settled in Concord, Massachusetts, where he lived most of the rest of his life thinking, writing and speaking. Emerson remains important in American history as a founder of the school of thought known as Transcendentalism. Its chief features were a reliance on intuition over cold scientific reason, a belief that the natural world held spiritual truths, and an optimistic view of the human spirit. Emerson was known as a stirring speaker, eventually earning the sobriquet "the Sage of Concord."

FOUR GOOD LINKS

• Emerson: A Guide to Resources Online
  Information on Emerson and Transcendentalism, with access to online texts
• The Academy of American Poets
  Good brief bio of Emerson, with texts of three of his best-known poems
• A Tribute to Emerson
  In English and Italian; good collection of his essays, with annoying musical background
• Ralph Waldo Emerson Biography
  Long, brainy, philosophical bio of a long, brainy, philosophical man

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