Prosa y Poesía R. U. Emerson

by Ralph Waldo Emerson

No other series of classic texts achieves the editorial standard of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with contextual and critical materials that bring the work to life for students. Careful editing, first-rate translation, thorough explanatory annotations, chronologies, and selected bibliographies make each text accessible to students while encouraging in-depth study. Each volume in the series is printed on acid-free paper, and every text remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice of excellence for scholarship for students at more than 2,500 colleges and universities worldwide.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Essays, Nonfiction, Philosophy, School, Literature

465 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston in 1803. Educated at Harvard and the Cambridge Divinity School, he became a Unitarian minister in 1826 at the Second Church Unitarian. The congregation, with Christian overtones, issued communion, something Emerson refused to do. "Really, it is beyond my comprehension," Emerson once said, when asked by a seminary professor whether he believed in God. (Quoted in 2,000 Years of Freethought edited by Jim Haught.) By 1832, after the untimely death of his first wife, Emerson cut loose from Unitarianism. During a year-long trip to Europe, Emerson became acquainted with such intelligentsia as British writer Thomas Carlyle, and poets Wordsworth and Coleridge. He returned to the United States in 1833, to a life as poet, writer and lecturer. Emerson inspired Transcendentalism, although never adopting the label himself. He rejected traditional ideas of deity in favor of an "Over-Soul" or "Form of Good," ideas which were considered highly heretical. His books include Nature (1836), The American Scholar (1837), Divinity School Address (1838), Essays, 2 vol. (1841, 1844), Nature, Addresses and Lectures (1849), and three volumes of poetry. Margaret Fuller became one of his "disciples," as did Henry David Thoreau.

The best of Emerson's rather wordy writing survives as epigrams, such as the famous: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." Other one- (and two-) liners include: "As men's prayers are a disease of the will, so are their creeds a disease of the intellect" (Self-Reliance, 1841). "The most tedious of all discourses are on the subject of the Supreme Being" (Journal, 1836). "The word miracle, as pronounced by Christian churches, gives a false impression; it is a monster. It is not one with the blowing clover and the falling rain" (Address to Harvard Divinity College, July 15, 1838). He demolished the right wing hypocrites of his era in his essay "Worship": ". . . the louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons" (Conduct of Life, 1860). "I hate this shallow Americanism which hopes to get rich by credit, to get knowledge by raps on midnight tables, to learn the economy of the mind by phrenology, or skill without study, or mastery without apprenticeship" (Self-Reliance). "The first and last lesson of religion is, 'The things that are seen are temporal; the things that are not seen are eternal.' It puts an affront upon nature" (English Traits , 1856). "The god of the cannibals will be a cannibal, of the crusaders a crusader, and of the merchants a merchant." (Civilization, 1862). He influenced generations of Americans, from his friend Henry David Thoreau to John Dewey, and in Europe, Friedrich Nietzsche, who takes up such Emersonian themes as power, fate, the uses of poetry and history, and the critique of Christianity. D. 1882.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was his son and Waldo Emerson Forbes, his grandson.

Reviews

[Kate Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Emerson and the Transcendalists since high school. I picked this up at a Barnes and Noble on Memorial Day and decided it would be my on and off summer read.

I'm glad I did. Emerson has a timeless wisdom on topics that are still relevant today. My favorite essays are Self-Reliance and Fate. My favorite of his poems is Sea-Shore.

This isn't a book you just read through from page one to the end. I jumped around and started with the things most familiar to me from way back in my school days. The good thing about this Norton Critical edition is that there is something here for everyone. It isn't the complete works, but it is the best of his works.

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great collection of writing from an American that still somehow resonates today. Some of the early sermons and essays drag, but in the later years, they really hit a great stride. At times, Emerson becomes a 19th century bodhisattva, and inspires one to come back to the overwhelming present moment.

Among my favorites are:
Compensation
Spiritual Laws
The Over-Soul
Circles
New England Reformers
Illusions

[Joelle Milholm · Rating 3 out of 5]

First time learning about/reading transcendentalists. Some interesting ideas - can definitely see the influence he had on Whitman. Didn't get it through it all, slow going. Some resonates and some doesn't.

[Gaëlle]

not gonna give a rating to this one as I only read precise extracts for one of my seminars and not the whole book.

[Chrisanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Louisa May brainwashed me into loving Emerson in her book Rose in Bloom when I was 13. So when my senior capstone course included Emerson I was excited.

Everyone should be taught Emerson by someone who gets Emerson. I was lucky enough to have a professor that did. I don't think he loved him, but he got him and the trauma of his life and that time period in general. And Emerson got the people of his time. He understood what they wanted, what concerned them, and how to speak to them. There's a lot to chew on.

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haven't read all of it, but very interesting philosophical proposition to the young nation of America. An attempt to influence a developing culture. Interesting and eloquent, even though I have some serious metaphysical disagreements and he ignores much of human history in his perspective on man's nature.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was my "Bible" for a couple of months. I wrote my thesis on Emerson's American Scholar and its influence on education throughout history. It was rough but one cannot deny that Emerson was an amazing thinker and writer. I think this book contains a great selection that should be read by everyone.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a class book, and even so, I highly enjoyed reading Emerson's prose. I had the chance to read "Self-Reliance" in high school, but after reading more of his essays, that was definitely not the best one, or at least in my opinion. "The Poet" and "The Over Soul" ranked higher.

[Honest Mabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent anthology. He was very difficult at first but eventually you have this break-through moment that allows you the ultimate insight and understanding. I love his essays. His poems are eh..but I am not a fan of poetry

[Danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

his poetry is terrible, but he writes very inspirational essays.

[Risa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emerson's Prose and Poetry (Norton Critical Editions) by Ralph Waldo Emerson (2001)

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good anthology.

[eliza]

When I realize I've spent hours reading Emerson for "homework" I have to put the book down and high-five myself for quitting the 8-to-5 and going back to perpetual pupilhood.

[Enzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Nature, Self-Reliance, The Poet, The American Scholar, Thoreau, some poems.

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

NORTON OR NAUGHT!