Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

Ralph Waldo (1803-1882), an eminent American essayist, lecturer, and poet. He was born at Boston May 25, 1803, and died at Concord April 27, 1882. His father was a Unitarian clergyman. Young Emerson was educated at Harvard, receiving his degree in 1821. He taught school for a few years, studied theology, and entered upon an assistant pastorate in his native city. In 1832 he resigned this position on the score of unwillingness to administer the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. He was also opposed to the practice of prayer in public, yet throughout his entire life he was a constant attendant at church. Emerson was married twice. The death of his first wife placed him in possession of a property with an income of $1,200 a year. On this amount he settled comfortably at Concord, Massachusetts. He was a man of simple habits. He passed his life in reading, meditating, traveling, lecturing, and writing articles. Between thirty and forty years were spent in this way. Although Emerson shrank from prominence and from participation in public affairs, he was a keen observer. He took a deep interest in the Brook Farm experiment, yet remained in his own quiet home. He was also interested deeply in the question of abolishing human slavery. He appears, however, to have remained calm, trusting to the general trend of events rather than to agitation. For this reason, he was never reckoned among the abolitionists. When the Civil War broke out he was a supporter of the Union cause, yet it is safe to say that one of his gentle habits would never have been willing to take the responsibility of bringing on the war. Few men have done more to stimulate and help on reforms, but he was not himself a man of action. Educators find sound doctrine in his essays. He teaches that desired reforms and changes of opinion may be brought about best by beginning with the children in school. He mentions repeatedly the advantages of teaching children gardening, a knowledge of plants and animals, and of the use of tools,--thus foreshadowing the modern call for manual training and the elements of agriculture. As might be expected, he was an earnest supporter of art and literature in the schools. Emerson was a poet of no mean order. In the first place he had a delicate ear. He brought together a volume of the most exquisite poetry in the English language, which was issued by his publisher under the name of Parnassus. A good sized volume is required also to contain his own poems. Of these, Each and All, The Rhodora, and The Humble Bee would certainly deserve a place in a volume of the world's best poems. The Fable, or the quarrel between the mountain and the squirrel, is a little gem for the schoolroom. The Snowstorm is one of the most exquisite bits of snow poetry in our language. One of the pleasantest episodes in the life of Emerson is his friendship for Carlyle. During a visit to Scotland he called on Carlyle while the latter was living at lonely home in the country, writing the first of the essays that made him famous. From this time on the two men exchanged letters with regularity. Emerson was influential in calling attention to Carlyle's writings, and Carlyle recognized Emerson as one of the great men of the century. The Carlyle-Emerson correspondence fills two respectable volumes. Emerson's lectures and magazine articles were published in a number of volumes. The first, called Nature, was published in 1836. Other volumes are Essays, Representative Men, English Traits, Conduct of Life, Society and Solitude, and Letters. and Social Aims. Emerson has a peculiar style, or want of style. His essays show a wide range of reading and much sound, original thought; but they are very different from anything else produced on this continent. Narrative or story-telling is condensed to the merest mention. Apt allusions are frequent, and show that he had an observing eye and a reflective mind, but description is entirely wanting. His essays are almost without plan. It is said that as he wrought in his garden, walked in the woods, read in his library, or lay awake in bed, he was in the habit of jotting down good thoughts as they occurred to him. When in need of something to say he distributed his loose pieces of paper all over the floor and furniture of his study, and went down on his knees, groping around among them to bring together a sufficient number to make up an essay or lecture. Whether this be true literally or not, it is evident that the thoughts of even his best essays are strung together without very much regard to the order in which they occur. If the various paragraphs were separated, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to restore them to their present position. Nevertheless, few writers have left so many sentences worthy of passing into popular sayings. Benjamin Franklin is the only other American who exceeds him in this respect. The greater popularity of Franklin's sayings is due to the fact that they seem to come from the field and the shop, rather than from the library. Emerson's sentences have done more to stimulate the thought of the writer, the clergyman, and teacher than those of any other literary man of his century. Mr. Sanborn affirms that the nearest approach that any American has made to the universality of Shakespeare's mind is found in the wide reach and easy elevation of Emerson. The following are a few of his sayings: America means opportunity. All are needed by each one. He builded better than he knew. Thoughts rule the world. Man in the bush with God may meet. Beauty is its own excuse for being. Put your creed into your deed. Discontent is the want of self reliance. There is always time enough for courtesy. Proverbs are the sanctuary of the intuitions. A great man is always willing to be little. Manners are the happy way of doing things. Thought is the property of him who can entertain it. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of Nature. The hearing ear is always found close to the speaking tongue. We do not count a man's years until he has nothing else to count. Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it. If the single man plant himself indomitably on his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to him. If you put a chain around the neck of a slave, the other end fastens itself around your own. No man ever prayed heartily without learning something. See Concord ; Thoreau