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The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson
by
Introduction by Mary Oliver
Commentary by Henry James, Robert Frost, Matthew Arnold, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Henry David Thoreau
The definitive collection of Emerson’s major speeches, essays, and poetry, The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson chronicles the life’s work of a true “American Scholar.” As one of the architects of the transcendentalist movement, Emer ...more
Commentary by Henry James, Robert Frost, Matthew Arnold, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Henry David Thoreau
The definitive collection of Emerson’s major speeches, essays, and poetry, The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson chronicles the life’s work of a true “American Scholar.” As one of the architects of the transcendentalist movement, Emer ...more
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Paperback, Modern Library Classics, 880 pages
Published
September 12th 2000
by Modern Library
(first published November 15th 1983)
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BEAUTIFUL.
"Man is timid and apologetic; he is no longer upright; he dares not say 'I think,' 'I am,' but quotes some saint or sage. He is ashamed before the blade of grass or the blowing rose. These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God to-day. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence. Before a leaf-bud has burst, its whole life acts; in the full-blown fl ...more
"Man is timid and apologetic; he is no longer upright; he dares not say 'I think,' 'I am,' but quotes some saint or sage. He is ashamed before the blade of grass or the blowing rose. These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God to-day. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence. Before a leaf-bud has burst, its whole life acts; in the full-blown fl ...more
In reading Emerson it readily becomes apparent why it is that such as Nietzsche revered his essaying person, tapping as he does into that interior reserve of the individual spirit who—whether she be isolated in starlit reclusion or thronged by fellow beings in day aglow bustle—must grapple, at the last, with the fact that she is alone and in that solitariness must self-arm to face the enduring struggle of time-taut life. I don't always agree with Emerson (or Nietzsche, for that matter) but I lov
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Can anybody truly be done reading emerson?
Emerson is my favorite poet/philosopher, and this one volume contains all his writings you could ever need. I agree with Emerson wholeheartedly about 33% of the time, disagree with him vehemently about 33%, and can't decide whether I agree or not the rest of the time. But he's always compelling, even if I think he's dead wrong.
The greatest thing about Emerson is how quotable he is. There are dozens of great one-liners here. One of my favorites: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little m ...more
The greatest thing about Emerson is how quotable he is. There are dozens of great one-liners here. One of my favorites: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little m ...more
I cannot say I have read this book in entirety. Emerson is more of a writer to take with you on life’s journey; you don’t so much as complete Emerson; rather you check in with him periodically along the way.
Mary Oliver wrote a superb introduction to him in this edition. Take a look at it before you start the journey with Emerson. If anyone ever found the essence of stopping and smelling the roses or coffee, it is Emerson.
Mary Oliver wrote a superb introduction to him in this edition. Take a look at it before you start the journey with Emerson. If anyone ever found the essence of stopping and smelling the roses or coffee, it is Emerson.
Mar 31, 2012
Lisa (Harmonybites)
rated it
it was ok
Recommends it for:
Gluttons for Punishment?
Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by:
Good Reading: 100 Significant Books
American philosopher and Harvard professor Stanley Cavell claims "Emerson and Thoreau... are the founding philosophers of America" and comparable to Plato. Before reading this I tackled Thoreau. Emerson was his mentor, and they were both considered part of the Transcendental circle in mid-Century America. I found Emerson less irritating than Thoreau, but less readable and challenging. By challenging I don't mean less difficult, but less thought-provoking. I think Emerson is harder to parse, to "
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It’s hard to overstate what the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson have done to awaken me to beauty and truth. Emerson packs more wisdom in one sentence than most writers articulate in a lifetime. Mary Oliver, the best selling poet in America told me simply, “Emerson is all you need.”
Though Emerson writes on a myriad of topics, his thematic core is consistent: “All things are made of one hidden stuff.” “The world globes itself in a drop of dew.” “The heart and soul of all men being one, this bitter ...more
Though Emerson writes on a myriad of topics, his thematic core is consistent: “All things are made of one hidden stuff.” “The world globes itself in a drop of dew.” “The heart and soul of all men being one, this bitter ...more
The answers to all of my questions about life can be found in the pages of this book. Love, friendship, nature, politics, ethics, and the complex challenges that make up human experience are all examined in a moving, beautiful, eloquent and fiercely intelligent way.
A cherished part of my library.
A cherished part of my library.
this is my jack off material. gorgeous language. "self-reliance" is life changing.
How do you rate Emerson with some number of stars? I think he’d have an essay to write about the whole concept.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882)
« Essential writings »
Emerson’s essays’ are the mirror of his vast knowledge drawn from extensive readings in ancient historical philosophies and religions, as well as personal studies of theology and preaching in his younger years as a minister of the Protestant Church.
Not unlike Montaigne, he quotes throughout his writings, words, beliefs, and thoughts of Plato, Heraclitus, Aristotle, Zenon, Epicurus, and other, more recent, philosophers.
He will also quote anci ...more
« Essential writings »
Emerson’s essays’ are the mirror of his vast knowledge drawn from extensive readings in ancient historical philosophies and religions, as well as personal studies of theology and preaching in his younger years as a minister of the Protestant Church.
Not unlike Montaigne, he quotes throughout his writings, words, beliefs, and thoughts of Plato, Heraclitus, Aristotle, Zenon, Epicurus, and other, more recent, philosophers.
He will also quote anci ...more
Don't think I'll read the whole thing, but:
At first I had no clue what Emerson was talking about, and I chalked it up to him being all transcendentalist. Then I got to "Intellect" and things started to hit home. Then I read (ironically enough) "Transcendenalist" and not only did I become convinced that (1) Emerson is worth reading and (2) Emerson is worth reading as philosophy but also that (a) he lines up well with a lot of pragmatic ideas and (b) he lines up well with a lot of my own personal ...more
At first I had no clue what Emerson was talking about, and I chalked it up to him being all transcendentalist. Then I got to "Intellect" and things started to hit home. Then I read (ironically enough) "Transcendenalist" and not only did I become convinced that (1) Emerson is worth reading and (2) Emerson is worth reading as philosophy but also that (a) he lines up well with a lot of pragmatic ideas and (b) he lines up well with a lot of my own personal ...more
Ralph Waldo Emerson is probably my favorite philosopher/poet. He combines poetry and prose wonderfully, treating human affairs, emotions and morals purely as aspects of nature, and all of nature as having the same soul as people. The range of his subjects is wide and varied, from the most metaphysical aspects of reality to the most mundane actions of daily life. Despite him having written in the mid 19th century, and often writing more as a poet than most philosophers, his writing is pretty stra
...more
I read most of this collection during an independent study during my junior year of college. I picked it up again last night and can't put it down; Emerson changed the way I think about everything.
anti-slavery racist, which is better than a pro-slavery racist. pantheist mysticism. philistine naturalism (i.e., 'transcendentalism'). bleh.
I found this astounding collection of essays rather hard to get through. Not because they were bad, or poorly written, but because they were so wonderful. While I thought some of his ideas were rather questionable - I'm not a big fan of natural theology (at least as I understand it) - his positions were still clearly made and forced me to seriously consider a number of my positions. Some parts I struggled to understand, but after thinking about them for a bit I found the ideas so great that I co
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Back to Basics: Reading Emerson
Reading Emerson might make readers slightly sad (more about that later), not that Emerson expresses gloom in his most influential essays: Nature, TheDivinity School Address, and Self Reliance. His words reflect the optimism he felt for the power of the individual to understand how they fit into the world and how they might serve their community and country. A child of the American Revolution, he and his audience...
Continue reading on Examiner.com: The Essential Wri ...more
This is a very deep book--very fitting for a deep person such as myself. :o) Seriously, this book is a lot to chew and I'm only reading it for English. However, I can honestly say that the parts I understood really were kind of interesting.
An old fellow once told me “All you need is Emerson and Dostojevski.” Wait, I think I read that somewhere, here on Goodreads.. Anyway, that old fellow was right: All you need is Emerson and Dostojevskij. Yes, and you’re good to go. Where? Why anywhere!
"To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty; and in the same field, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before and which shall never be seen again."
Aug 18, 2012
Kris
is currently reading it
Ahhhh......if only we lived in the same era and could share a cup of coffee on a big white porch of a grand old house on main street USA.
Repetition beautifully articulated.
The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson contains what it says. It is an annotated collection of the writings of noted American Scholar Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains his essays, transcriptions of his speeches, poetry that he had written and so on. All of his major works are included and I am hard pressed to think of anything that is not in the book. This is mainly because I am not a scholar of Emerson’s works. The book also contains a biography that glosses over Emerson’s life. Since the
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Sep 25, 2019
Whiskey
added it
Emerson was a philosopher, poet, and essayist. Though he’s credited with being one of the fathers of Transcendentalism, the New England movement that privileged idealism over empiricism and found a natural divinity in all things, he valued independent thought above adherence to any creed or system. Since the best of Emerson is the phrase, the sentence, the paragraph—call it the majestic sound bite (he was, after all, a riveting public speaker)—the best way to approach his work may be to just ope
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I do not agree with everything Emerson says, but he is a joy to disagree with. I particularly dislike his essay entitled "Wealth". I found his ban on legislation of the free market following decrying the power of the Rothschild's illogical. His affection for friends I found stilted. I found his poetry a touch narrative, but his prose elegant.
And I rather believe he married his first wife because he believed he was the sort of man who would marry a dying woman, rather than from any genuine love.
And I rather believe he married his first wife because he believed he was the sort of man who would marry a dying woman, rather than from any genuine love.
I read Emerson's short book "Nature," collected within this collection. Emerson's brand of non-Christian natural spirituality is fascinating, but his writing style doesn't do much for me. I wouldn't be surprised if Emerson's recommendation to go into nature influenced Thoreau at Walden. So: 3 stars for the purple prose, 5 stars for this anthology of a nineteenth-century superstar's most famous work, and an average of 4 stars overall for the volume.
My ratings of books on Goodreads are solely a crude ranking of their utility to me, and not an evaluation of literary merit, entertainment value, social importance, humor, insightfulness, scientific accuracy, creative vigor, suspensefulness of plot, depth of characters, vitality of theme, excitement of climax, satisfaction of ending, or any other combination of dimensions of value which we are expected to boil down through some fabulous alchemy into a single digit.
“Self-Reliance” contains the most prominent of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s philosophies: the need for each individual to avoid conformity and personal inconsistencies, and to follow their own instincts and ideas. You’re to rely on your own self versus going with the ebbs and flows of culture at large. Other essays in the collection focus on friendship, history, experience, and more.
Love the philosophy, amazed at how commonplace his ideas are now, and really enjoyed his poetry. However, I surprisingly did not care for his prose, which I found a bit obtuse and generally lacking in any flow.
Great collection. The essays are excellent. There are only two parts from The Conduct of Life so the complete selection from that one.
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in 1803, Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston. 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
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