Emerson's Early Life
Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston, MA on May 25, 1803. He was born into a fairy well-known family. His father was a Boston minister who sadly passed away when Emerson was eight years old. To support the family, Emerson's mother ran a boarding house consisiting of six children. Although the family was in poverty, Emerson attended the Boston Latin School where he received a great education. He entered into Harvard College at age fourteen in 1817. At age 17, Emerson began to write in a journal ("Ralph Waldo Emerson Biography").
Emerson graduated from Harvard in 1821. He took a teaching job but was moving towards ministry. Emerson was officially a minsiter in 1826. He married Ellen Tucker in September, 1829. Unfortunately, she died a year and a half after they wed. He later decided to leave the ministry. Emerson was left with no other work to do. He began to give lectures that later on turned into essays and books. Emerson spoke out against materialism and came out to be one of America's leading transcendentalists ("Ralph Waldo Emerson Biography").
Emerson graduated from Harvard in 1821. He took a teaching job but was moving towards ministry. Emerson was officially a minsiter in 1826. He married Ellen Tucker in September, 1829. Unfortunately, she died a year and a half after they wed. He later decided to leave the ministry. Emerson was left with no other work to do. He began to give lectures that later on turned into essays and books. Emerson spoke out against materialism and came out to be one of America's leading transcendentalists ("Ralph Waldo Emerson Biography").
What were Emerson's Beliefs?
- It is important for people to be themselves and not worry about judgement from others
- People need to follow their own paths
- People need to be independent--not followers
- Speak their hidden thoughts
- Do not conform to society
- The Oversoul--man, nature, and God are all connected
- People need to depend on themselves, not God; turn to God for answers after you turn to yourself for them
Quote from Self-Reliance"To believe in your own though, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men,-- that is genius...A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind within...Yet he dismisses without notice his thoughts, because it is his."
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AnalysisEmerson is saying that it is important that people do not dismiss their own thoughts. People need to be independent and not worry about being judged by others. They need to be their true selves and not conform to society. People should not change their views about something just because others may disagree with them.
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Passages from Self-Reliance
"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide...none but he knows what...he can do; nor does he know until he has tried...A man is relieved and [happy] when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise, shall give him no peace.."
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"[T]he voices which we hear in solitude...grow faint and inaudible as we enter the world. Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree...to surrender the liberty and culture of [each member]. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs."
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"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you say to-day...To be great is to be misunderstood."
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(To view the full text of Self-Reliance click HERE)
(To listen to the full text of Self-Reliance, watch the audio clip below!)