Emerson

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

RALPH WALDO, an American essayist, poet, and philosopher, born in Boston, May 25, 1803. Seven generations of his ancestors had been clergymen; he inherited a tradition of scholarship and heroic living, and was himself trained to continue the tradition. He knew few pleasures in boyhood; he was quiet and studious, though not brilliant; he worked his way through Harvard. In 1829 he was ordained minister of the Second Church of Boston, married, and settled down, apparently, to the life of his ancestors. After three years, however, he resigned, being unable to follow the forms and ceremonies of the church. He spent a time in Europe, where he was more interested in personalities than in the sort of thing usually looked for by tourists. He met Carlyle, then unknown, who exerted a profound influence upon him. He brought out Carlyle's books in America, where they had a greater sale than in England, and a lifelong correspondence was carried on by the two friends. In 1835 he returned to Concord, to the Old Manse, where he studied and wrote. For the anniversary of Lexington, April 19, 1836, he composed the hymn the hymn which has become famous. He did a little lecturing, was interested in gardening, bought several tracts of land, studied Nature rather than books. At length he published (1836) his first important book, a slender volume entitled "Nature," which, with his oration on the American Scholar (1837) and an address delivered at Dartmouth in 1838, forms an introduction to his philosophy. In the first of these he urged the divinity of the soul and its capacity to attain all knowledge; the conception of Nature as a gigantic shadow of God, able to unlock powers of the soul either as energy or as knowledge; and the idea that God, by these means, teaches the soul directly. Thus each man may build his own world, casting aside external authority and all tradition. In the Harvard address on the American Scholar he puts Nature as first of the influences on the scholar's RALPH WALDO EMERSON development; the second influence is the mind of the past, able to inspire and to call forth latent powers, though not to dominate the active soul; the third is action, since the idea that scholarship means seclusion from the world is wrong. The scholar must guide men by showing them realities underneath appearances; he must be free and brave; so shall he help to make a nation of men. The Dartmouth College address supplements these ideas, especially the belief that the chief duty of the educated man is to project his own soul into the universe-the past, the realm of external nature, the realm of active life-and so realize his own divine personality. With the publication of the first series of "Essays," 1841, Emerson's leading ideas were almost completely stated. "Self-Reliance" is a development of what had already had briefer statement, especially in the Harvard address. The theme is the direct relation between man and divinity, cutting away dependence upon party, creed, travel, books, worldly ideas of success. In "The Oversoul" we have an amplification of a paragraph in "Self-Reliance," of which the kernel is to the effect that "we lie in the lap of immense intelligence, which makes us organs of its activity and receivers of its truth." The doctrine is Platonic, and is developed on Platonic lines. We live only partially; at times of inspiration the soul of the whole comes to life in us, the wise silence, the universal beauty. This universal beauty belongs to the ages; spirit may incarnate itself at any time. Other essays, such as "Circles," "Spiritual Laws," and the like, contain a similar message, always phrased so suggestively as to seem to be said for the first time. Essays on political relations, such as "History," "Politics," "Experience," teach that all the past, as well as all that Nature gives, meet in the Now of the Soul. Personal ity is thus the concentration of experience in moments of illumination. Because of his emphasis on personality he seems to neglect the state, or the conception of organized society. He is not sympathetic toward reform; a law is but a memorandum; not riches or territories, but men form the highest end of government; there is danger in "undertaking for another;" only man and the world spirit remain, and their union is the sole value in life. These ideas, and others related to them, were developed in a series of essays unique for their inspiring idealism. The second series of essays appeared in 1844, followed in 1847 by a volume of poems. His poetry, like his prose, is distinguished for its compactness, its oracular quality, and for its beauty. Many of the poems are miniatures of the essays, and may be attached to them. His chief source of inspiration is Nature, though he also wrote a series of patriotic and anniversary poems that have become justly famous. A volume entitled "Nature, Addresses, and Lectures" appeared in 1849, and another collection of lectures, "Representative Men," in 1850. He published "English Traits" in 1856; "The Conduct of Life" in 1860. Other collected works, such as "The Natural History of Intellect," the "Journals," and the correspondence with Carlyle, appeared after his death, which took place on April 27, 1882.