Ralph Waldo Emerson - Essay Example

? Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Emerson was not a literary critic in the way that William Dean and Edgar Allan Poewere. He was not a theorist as Fredrich Wilhelm, Immanuel Kant, Fredrich Ernst Schleiermacher and Joseph Von Schelling (Teuber, 2013). However, he was for America just as what Samuel Coleridge was for England, the key spokesman for a new-fangled conception of literature. From his initial essays and his vital first book, Nature (1836), to his most prominent essay, "The Poet" (1844) to his latest writings on "Persian Poetry" and "Poetry and Imagination" in 1875, Emerson established and championed a notion of literature as literary activity (Koch, 2012). The importance of that activity is that it is a signifying process. Both the writer and the reader are concerned in acts of literary expression that are symbolic or representative (Teuber, 2013). Emerson’s literary position is a vital one, and the very edge with which he held his perceptions makes him the exceptional ambassador of romantic symbolism (Bosco & Joel, 2010). Emerson’s biographical, romantic symbolism, poetic in expression and ethical in intent, are traits, which still stir debates and have encouraging, as well as liberating effects, on the contemporary reader. He always cared more the present rather than the past. He also cared more for the reader rather than the text (Teuber, 2013). There are various events that one can read in Emerson’s biography that seemed to change his life and made him the prominent writer he was. These events are (1) his meeting with George Putnam, Frederic Henry Hedge and George Ripley, to plan periodic meetings of other concurring intellectuals, (2), the death of his wife and (3) living with his aunt, Mary Emerson. This paper will discuss how these three events shaped Emerson into the prominent, famous writer he was considered. Emerson’s Meeting with George Putnam, Frederic Henry Hedge and George Ripley, to Plan Periodic Meetings of Other Concurring Intellectuals On 8th September, 1836, the day prior to the publication of Emerson’s most famous book, Nature, he met with George Putnam, Frederic Henry Hedge and George Ripley, to Plan Periodic Meetings of Other Concurring Intellectuals. This was the launch of the Transcendental Club, which catered as the center for the group. The movement’s initial meeting was held on 19th September, 1836 (Teuber, 2013). On 1st September, 1837, women were present at the Transcendental Club meeting for the initial time. Emerson invited Margaret Fuller, Sarah Ripley and Elizabeth Hoar for dinner at his residence prior to the meeting to make sure that they would attend the evening get-together. The women, particularly Fuller, would prove to be significant figures in Transcendentalism. Transcendentalism referred to a religious and idealistic movement, which was established during the late 1820s and early 1830s (Bosco & Joel, 2010). This was in the Eastern region of the U.S. as a protest opposing the general state of society and culture, and particularly, the state of intellectualism (Koch, 2012). Emerson believed that individuals are at their best when they are independent and "self-reliant" (Myerson, 2000). He considered that it is only from such true people that real society could be formed. In his lectures, Emerson gave tales of how he lived in division, parts, succession and particles (Teuber, 2013). He considers that this deep powers that he lived in existed as beatitudes in him and that is why he chose his Transcendentalist path. Emerson closed his speech "The American Scholar" by urging for an upheaval in human consciousness to develop from the new-fangled idealist philosophy (Myerson, 2000). The Death of His Wife In 1829, Emerson was made a minister, junior pastor, of Boston’s Second Church. This was also the same year that he married his wife Ellen Tucker (Teuber, 2013). His first salary was US$ 1,200, which later increased to US$ 1,400. However, after the increase, he was forced to assume other critical roles in the church (Koch, 2012). Emerson was made chaplain of the Massachusetts legislature, which kept him very busy during this period that made him doubt his own beliefs (Bosco & Joel, 2010). After the passing of his wife, just one and a half years after their marriage, Emerson started to disagree with the Church’s method, which provoked him to compose a journal in 1832 (Myerson, 2000). He stated that he had thought for sometimes that, so as to be a good minister, it was vital to leave the church. After this, he spent almost nine months abroad, six in Italy, working from Naples to Sicily to Rome, Venice, Florence, then to Switzerland and finally Paris. While in France, at the Jardin des Plantes, he faced the full power, as well as the appeal of the new zoological and botanical sciences, and he, after that, turned resolutely from theology to science, pledging to become a naturalist (Myerson, 2000). Emerson is the key figure in the American literary movement referred to as Transcendentalism, which was also a religious and philosophical movement. However, he could not achieve this if he decided to stay in the ministry after the death of his wife. Transcendentalism was complex, which drew upon Christian, Platonic, Hindu and Stoic thoughts, but it is most directly affiliated with German Idealism as worked out from Schelling to Kant (Teuber, 2013). Living With His Aunt, Mary Emerson In 1811, when Emerson was eight, Mary Emerson’s brother died (Reverend William Emerson). Mary left Elm Vale and shifted Concord to live with Ralph Emerson’s mother (Ruth) who was also a widow. She helped Ruth take care of her six children and worked to maintain the boarding house that turned into a source of family income (Teuber, 2013). While living in Ruth’s home, Mary, Ruth and Ralph Emerson developed close bonds. Ruth’s children came to consider their aunt as a surrogate father, since she assisted them a lot in generating income for their family. Mary also took charge of the family’s intellectual and spiritual education as she pushed them to excel in life (Koch, 2012). Ralph Emerson, in particular, said that their aunt gave him counsels and advices, and that it was a high privilege of him to have that lofty standard indicated to him while he was a child (Bosco & Joel, 2010). Emerson considered this a blessing that nothing else, even education, could offer. Emerson claims that his aunt instilled in him his habit of day-to-day journal writing, as well as continual reading for self-education (Teuber, 2013). She encouraged him to read, have delight in nature, as well as take risks in life. This shows that she was a very influential person to him. References Bosco, R. A., & Joel M. (2010). Ralph Waldo Emerson: A documentary volume. Detroit: Cengage Learning. Koch, D. R. (2012). Ralph Waldo Emerson in Europe: Class, race and revolution in the making of an American Thinker. London: I.B. Tauris. Myerson, J. (2000). A historical guide to Ralph Waldo Emerson. New York: Oxford University Press. Teuber, A. (2013). Ralph Waldo Emerson. Retrieved from http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/emersonbio.html#MainEssaySection Read More