Abstract
This paper examines the life of Ralph Waldo Emerson, born in Boston, Mass., on May 25, 1803, a philosopher, essayist, and poet. It looks at how Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the Transcendentalists, a group of thinkers that also included Henry David Thoreau, who were interested in a spirituality that had little to do with formalized religion. It also explores how he was an abolitionist and how he held true to his beliefs, taking action individually to advance his ideas regarding the remaking of his world into one more in accord with what he saw as the natural state of man. That natural state, for Emerson, included culture, freedom of religion, and considerate treatment of others. It looks at how it was only natural that he would extend its reach beyond the Native American to the American slave and how he reconciled those activities with his belief in individuality by viewing the abolitionist movement as a group of individuals acting on their own at the same time to accomplish a greatly desired change in their world.

From the Paper
"Perhaps the least known of Emerson's actions taken to change his world concerned abolitionism. As early as 1844, Emerson was commenting in public on the "Emancipation of the Negroes in the British West Indies", which historians say was a departure from his previous thoughts on abolition. But that summer, he refined his thoughts on the divisive issue, and in keeping with his belief that action must follow thought, he became an active abolitionist, setting forth his beliefs in the Emancipation address in Concord, Mass., on August 1, 1844. Biographer Len Gougeon, in his book Virtue's Hero: Emerson, Antislavery and Reform, concluded that with that speech, Emerson "made the transition from antislavery to abolition". (Quoted by Earhart, 1999)"

Tags:emancipation, slavery, spirituality, henry, david, thoreau

Abstract
This paper discusses two great American thinkers: The nineteenth-century transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson and the eighteenth-century Puritan, Jonathan Edwards. The paper compares these two great thinkers, noting that Emerson's Romanticism era was based on the value of the individual and the beauty of the natural world, while Edwards' era focused on the Puritan idea of innate depravity and praise to God in heaven, and relates that this comparison thus illustrates how the mentalities of these scholars are profoundly dissimilar in several aspects. The paper then contrasts the philosophies of Edwards and Emerson by examining their views on man, spirituality and religion, and nature.

From the Paper
"The somewhat self-centered attitude portrayed in Emerson's work has led some to believe that he considers mankind as God's equal - as if the world, in Emerson's view, revolves around man's thoughts and feelings; however, Edwards' position is that human life is controlled and monitored by God Himself. In contrast to Emerson's idea of man being somewhat supreme beings whose ways are right if he believes them to be so, Edwards advocates the Puritan philosophy of innate depravity. In his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," Edwards insists that mankind as a whole is sinful in nature and must obtain salvation from above in order to be at peace. "Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it," Edwards states, "he depends upon himself for his own security; he flatters himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do" (501). "

Tags:transcendentalism, puritan, spirituality, religion

Abstract
This paper examines how Ralph Waldo Emerson?s transcendentalist philosophy shifted and changed over the course of his life. In particular, it looks at how Emerson?s ideas in his essays ?Self-Reliance? and ?The American Scholar? show profound shifts in judgment on what a human being and a thinker should aspire to be. It attempts to show that the Emerson that is most likely to be amenable to the sensibilities of college students today is likely to be that of his later essay upon ?Self-Reliance,? rather than his earlier ?The American Scholar,? which only manifests the later essay?s ideas in a half-formulated and a much more Christian-focused fashion.

From the Paper
"Today's emphasis on postmodernism and the constant restructuring of one's identity over the course of one's educational existence makes the lack of consistency and the disdain for tradition expressed by Emerson in the earlier essay to be quite attractive to young college students. ?Else, to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another,? writes Emerson, if we do not constantly reexamine our own opinions. Emerson's overall philosophy, as expressed in this essay, is that rather than looking to past, European models of excellence and artistic expression, young Americans must create their own, new models that are not hemmed in by past ideals. To live is to constantly reinvent one's self and life."

Tags:transcendentalism, postmodernism

Abstract
This paper explains that New England Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson believed in the power of nature so strongly that it influenced his thoughts on religion, self-reliance and the role of the scholar. The author points out that Emerson's belief in human nature determined his view that people must be individual and rely completely on their own understanding and truth; however, paradoxically, he also believed that nature makes everyone part of a universal being or truth. The paper concludes that Emerson was certain that human nature is perfect within all people and must be allowed to have a free voice unfettered by the opinions of societies, the restrictions of organized religion and the weight of scholarship.

From the Paper
"Emerson loved the beauty of nature and found the presence of the sublime when he contemplated the pure air and scenery. He frequently describes nature in terms that prove his delight. Comparisons to the sophisticated life of the city always show the superiority of the natural world in his writings. The most powerful aspect of nature is that it is not concerned with the past or the future, it is simply content to be what is in its nature. Emerson insisted that man should feel the same way."

Tags:transcendentalist, individual, nature, religion, restrictions

Abstract
This paper takes a look at Ralph Waldo Emerson, an author living during an era known as The Romantic Age. This paper also investigates the events of his life, examines some of his ideas, and evaluates his status in and influence on American Literature.

From the Paper
"In Europe he visited many famous thinkers--Walter Savage Lando, Lafayette, John Stuart Mill, Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Thomas Carlyle. These people's ideas influenced his developing philosophy of Transcendentalism. His response to his wife's untimely death was to establish ideas and principles on which he would base his life, plus he developed a faculty for more acute mental discernment--more perspicacity--toward life. He proved that wisdom could be achieved through experience.
When Emerson returned in 1833, he began to give lectures. In those days, lectures were a form of social entertainment (there were no movies or TV), and he was paid well for giving them. Sometimes he still preached while he wrote new lectures and planned his first book. In 1834 he married Lydia Jackson and moved to Concord. His brother Edward died of TB the same year, but the following year his first son Waldo was born. By 1835, Emerson's unusual and overgenerous spirit was ready to be unleashed. He used his deep feelings, emotions, and thoughts to create truth the way he arrived at truth, within himself: "To believe your own idea, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius. Speak your latent belief and it shall be the universal sense; for at all times the inmost becomes the outmost and our first thought is rendered back to us by the trumpets of the last judgment."

Tags:independant, free, thinker, Ellen, Louisa, Tucker, Transcendentalism

Abstract
The paper includes an introduction, a look at his early life, later life, early works, later works how his life is reflected in his works and a brief conclusion. The paper shows how the major impact of Emerson is his sponsorship and mentoring of a new generation of respected authors from new England, including Thoreau, Melville, Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman.

From the Paper
"Most critics of American literature over the last several centuries will agree that Ralph Waldo Emerson is perhaps the single most influential figure in American literary history. More than any other author of his day, he was responsible for shaping the literary style and vision of the American Romantic period. He was literally model for some of America's most famous writers of that period- from Emily Dickinson and Herman Melville to Walt Whitman and David Thoreau. This was a time when America read- and New England was home to the best loved authors of that time."

Tags:thoreau, transcendetalism, nature essays

From the Paper
"To the modern student, Emerson comes through as a dogmatic, self-centered and rather unoriginal writer. It is only with closer reading that we begin to understand where his greatness lay.

Not for Emerson the "It appears that...," or "This would indicate...," or even the ultimate face-saver, "In my experience...." He writes each word not as if it were dictated by God, but rather that God himself is writing it. He is right. He knows he is right, and he refuses to be humble about it. He knows that since the truth of his statement came from his heart, then that truth resides in the hearts of all men and they thus must recognize it.

He is "readable" for us today because he avoided the hyperbole and rhetoric of most of contemporaries. He is not ... "

Abstract
The ancient philosopher, Heraclitus, had many beliefs, including the harmony of opposites, the distrust of the senses, the cycle of the universe, the constant flux and underlying spirit unifying all things of the world, and the relation between men and infants. This paper examines how all these ideas are found in Ralph Waldo Emerson's various writings.

From the Paper
"The idea may seem simple but it shows the harmony throughout all parts of the earth, and that however different each part may be it is still necessary for all of the others. Heraclitus has a similar but less complicated view of the natural order of things, specifically that there are only three parts, fire, water, and earth. He believes that "As it is condensed, fire becomes moist, and then as it is further compressed it becomes water, and as water solidifies it turns into earth; this is the 'road downward'" and that "The Thunderbolt steers everything" (Waterfield 43;42). This could be explained if Heraclitus believed that lightning "rose up from the sea to the upper fire of the universe, rather than striking downwards" (Waterfield 35). Although inaccurate, his perceptions of the activities in the universe, the influence of his unique ideas about the natural workings of the world are evident in Emerson's writing."

Tags:sphinx, logos, metron

Abstract
This paper explores Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote " Man hopes. Genius creates" from his speech "The American Scholar". The paper references both "The American Scholar" and "Self-Reliance" and uses various excerpts of Emerson's writing to portray him both as a genius as well as a man of hope. The paper also discusses a very interesting and thought provoking paradox within Emerson's philosophy.

From the Paper
"The American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson states in his speech "The American Scholar" that "Man hopes. Genius Creates." (Emerson, 517) In these four words, Emerson defines the common quality of a man is to hope while the genius takes action and creates. Emerson himself is an amalgamation of a genius and a man. He demonstrates both of these qualities in his essay entitled "Self-Reliance" as well as in "The American Scholar." Both dissertations contain in them moments of creative genius and moments of mere hope. The action of hoping, however, is an essential and initial phase of genius. Hope is a precursor to genius. Genius is achieving a solution and acting upon it."

Tags:Ralph, Waldo, Emerson, The, American, Scholar, Self-Reliance, Classic, American, Literature, Romantacism, Transcendentalism

Abstract
This paper offers a complete analysis of Benjamin Franklin's "Way to Wealth" and Ralph Waldo Emerson's "On Self Reliance" and compares the similar messages they conveyed about wealth, even though the authors were separated by a century in time. Each author, in his attempt to redefine the meaning of wealth, chose to shun religious autonomy in favor of a greater emphasis on the individual.

From the Paper
"With the birth of the first truly American generation, i.e. those having been born the New World, came a revolution in thought and ideology. Men no longer allowed their pursuit of happiness to be dictated by the callous sermons and chastising admonitions of Puritan stalwarts, namely Winthrop and Edwards. Passionate writers began to shun religious autonomy in favor of the self, challenging the status quo, and dawning the American spirit. Perhaps the most prominent of these writers were Benjamin Franklin and Ralph Waldo Emerson who, despite being separated by nearly a century in time and the Revolutionary War, conveyed comparable messages. Franklin's "The Way to Wealth" and Emerson's "Self-Reliance" each succeed in modernizing the definition of wealth in the mind of the American by focusing on the individual, re-defining the role of the religion, and creating New World virtues which reverberate into my generation."

Tags:benjamin, comparison, emerson, franklin, ralph, waldo, writers, poor, richard, virtues