Carolyn and I have appreciated the work of writer, speaker, poet, and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century and is considered one of America’s most influential thinkers. He was regarded as a champion of individualism and critical thought, and a critic of the societal pressures that push toward conformity. In other words, he was one of the original spokespeople for ‘doing your own thing’ and ‘thinking for yourself’.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1803. His father was a Unitarian minister, who passed away when he was only eight, leaving his mother to raise him and his five siblings in modest circumstances. Despite financial challenges, his childhood was marked by intellectual influence, particularly from his aunt, who encouraged his love for reading and philosophical inquiry.

Emerson attended the Boston Latin School, where he excelled academically, and in 1812, he entered Harvard College at the age of 14. During these years, he developed a deep interest in literature and writing, while also grappling with the pressure to follow in his father’s footsteps as a minister. In 1821, when he was 18, Emerson served as Class Poet, and he presented an original poem on Harvard’s Class Day, a month before his graduation. That year Emerson graduated from Harvard College and then briefly worked as a schoolteacher, although he found this occupation unfulfilling.

In 1823, Emerson entered Harvard Divinity School, following a path toward ministry. However, during this period, he began to question some of the traditional religious doctrines of his time. In 1825, he was licensed to preach, preparing for a career as a Unitarian minister. However, he wasn’t sure that he wanted to do this, due to the questions that he had about conventional theology.

In 1826, Emerson faced some health challenges, which led him to leave his ministry studies temporarily. He was ordained as a Unitarian minister in 1829, and in the same year, he married Ellen Louisa Tucker, whose death from tuberculosis in 1831 deeply affected him. This tragedy, combined with growing dissatisfaction with traditional religious practices, led Emerson to resign from the ministry in 1832. In 1833, he traveled to Europe, meeting influential thinkers like Thomas Carlyle and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which deepened his philosophical insights. In 1835, Emerson settled in Concord, Massachusetts, and he began establishing himself as a leading voice in Transcendentalism, which he felt a strong resonance with.

Transcendentalism was a philosophical and literary movement in the early 19th century that emphasized the inherent goodness of people and nature, as well as the importance of individual intuition and spiritual experience. It rejected organized religion and materialism, advocating for self-reliance, personal freedom, and a deep connection to the natural world as pathways to understanding higher truths. Transcendentalists believe that true knowledge transcends empirical observation and can be accessed through inner reflection and communion with nature. The movement sought to challenge the conformity of society and inspire a more profound spiritual and intellectual awakening.

In 1836, Emerson published his essay Nature, which laid the foundation for Transcendentalist philosophy. In this essay, Emerson divides nature into four usages: Commodity, Beauty, Language, and Discipline. These distinctions define the ways by which humans use nature for their basic needs, their desire for delight, their communication with one another, and their understanding of the world. That same year, Emerson helped found the Transcendental Club, which gathered together like-minded thinkers.

In 1837, Emerson met poet and philosopher Henry David Thoreau. At that time, Thoreau was a young graduate from Harvard. Their initial meeting happened when Thoreau attended one of Emerson’s lectures. Impressed by Thoreau’s intellectual potential, Emerson invited him into his circle of Transcendentalist thinkers. The two became good friends as they shared common ideas about nature, individualism, and Transcendentalism. Emerson was a mentor to Thoreau, encouraging him to write and think independently. Their relationship deepened when Thoreau lived in a small cabin on Emerson’s land at Walden Pond from 1845 to 1847, during which time Thoreau wrote much of Walden. Although their friendship had occasional tensions— mainly because of differences in their philosophies— it remained a significant intellectual bond throughout their lives, and Emerson referred to Thoreau as his “best friend.”

In 1837, Emerson delivered his lecture, The American Scholar at Harvard, calling for intellectual independence, and this was hailed by Transcendentalists as America’s “intellectual Declaration of Independence.” In 1841, Emerson also published Essays and a year later Essays: Second Series, which contained some of his most famous essays, like Self-Reliance and The Over-Soul, establishing his reputation as a major American thinker and writer.

Emerson’s spiritual perspective centered on the belief that divinity resides within each individual and that spiritual truth can be accessed through personal intuition rather than organized religion. He viewed nature as a direct manifestation of the divine, advocating for a deep, personal connection with the natural world as a means to understand higher spiritual truths. Emerson rejected traditional religious dogma, emphasizing self-reliance, inner wisdom, and the unity of all creation. His spiritual philosophy, influenced by Transcendentalism, celebrated the individual’s direct experience of the divine and the idea that every person has the capacity for profound spiritual insight.

In the 1840s, Emerson had a brief venture into beekeeping. Inspired by his deep connection to nature, he decided to try beekeeping at his home in Concord. However, the experiment didn’t last long. When one of his hives was destroyed by a bear, Emerson abandoned the endeavor. Despite this, the experience reflected his hands-on approach to understanding nature, which he so often wrote about.

In 1847, Emerson traveled to Europe for a second time, delivering lectures that further enhanced his international reputation. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1850, Emerson published his work Representative Men, which profiled historical figures like Plato and Shakespeare, exploring the nature of genius. Throughout the 1850s, Emerson increasingly engaged with social and political issues. In 1855, he read and praised Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, recognizing Whitman as a powerful new voice in American literature. Whitman called Emerson his “master.”

In 1857, Emerson co-founded the literary and cultural magazine The Atlantic Monthly with some of his friends, and the magazine is published to this day during the Civil War. Emerson strongly supported the Union cause and the abolition of slavery, sometimes speaking and writing against it, although he was hesitant about lecturing on the subject due to concerns about being in the public limelight about this. In 1862, Emerson delivered a eulogy for his friend Thoreau, who died at the age of 44 of tuberculosis. In 1860, Emerson’s The Conduct of Life was published, a collection of essays addressing themes of fate, power, and wealth. In 1867, Emerson‘s health began to decline, although he remained a prominent intellectual, celebrated for his contributions to American thought and literature. Friedrich Nietzsche said that he was “the most gifted of the Americans.” In 1870, Emerson published Society and Solitude, a collection of essays that reflected his mature thoughts on personal reflection and societal roles.

In 1871 or 1872, Emerson started experiencing memory problems and he suffered from aphasia, a disorder that affects how one communicates. By the end of the decade, he sometimes forgot his name. However, if asked how he felt, he would respond, “Quite well; I have lost my mental faculties, but am perfectly well.” Despite his declining memory and mental sharpness, he remained active in public life and continued lecturing until the mid-1870s. In 1872, his house in Concord was damaged by fire, but it was quickly rebuilt with the help of friends and admirers. Around 1875, Emerson’s public appearances became less frequent due to his deteriorating health. His last significant public event was in 1878 when he attended the unveiling of a statue of The Minute Man in Concord.

In 1882, Emerson fell ill with pneumonia and he passed away that year at his home in Concord. His death marked the end of an era for American intellectual life, and he was widely mourned. Emerson was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, near the graves of other prominent Transcendentalists.

As a pioneering philosopher, essayist, and poet, Emerson profoundly shaped American intellectual and literary culture. As a leader of the Transcendentalist movement, he championed individualism, self-reliance, and the deep connection between humans and nature, influencing generations of thinkers, writers, and social reformers. Emerson’s ideas contributed to the development of American pragmatism, environmental thought, and the rise of social movements such as abolitionism and women’s rights, and his essays remain foundational texts in American philosophy, promoting personal freedom and spiritual exploration.

Some of the quotes that Ralph Waldo Emerson is known for include:

To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.

Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.

What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.

Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.

The earth laughs in flowers.

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.

Life is a journey, not a destination.

Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.

Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.

by David Jay Brown