Nature, Addresses, and Lectures (Volume I)

by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Robert E. Spiller (Editor), Alfred R. Ferguson (Editor)

In 1849 Ralph Waldo Emerson collected in one volume all of his published work he thought worthy of preservation that had not been contained in the two series of Essays (1841, 1844) and the Poems (1847). Included were the essay Nature (1836); four orations, “The American Scholar,” “The Divinity School Address,” and two others; and five lectures which had appeared in The Dial .

As the first volume of a projected new Collected Works , this edition of Nature, Addresses, and Lectures now provides for the first time a definitive text based on collation of all editions in which Emerson might have had a hand, together with a wholly new introduction and extensive notes. The recently published Journals and Lectures from this period help bring to this volume a fresh perspective on the first and formative stage of Emerson’s career as a public figure and man of letters.

Introduction and Notes by Robert E. Spiller; Text Established by Alfred R. Ferguson

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy

382 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1889

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

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Early works by Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of America’s greatest thinkers. Includes his essential and groundbreaking lecture ‘Transcendentalism’.

[Márcio Ricardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obra de Ralph Waldo Emerson que deu início ao movimento naturalista. Tem algumas reflexões interessantes. Estava à espera de algo diferente, não sei bem o quê, mas diferente. Não foi uma decepção, mas também não algo que fizesse a diferença, falando por mim.

[Ryan Greene · Rating 5 out of 5]

transcendentalists 🥰

[Luana Rosas]

chocada que esse livro é chamado de "a bíblia do naturalista", pois ele acaba de virar a minha religião.

[Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Ralph Waldo Emerson's first book, Nature, along with a collection of addresses and lectures he gave over the years afterward. Nature itself is quite short, basically a manifesto on a spiritual philosophy he developed himself after leaving the Unitarian church, which later came to be known as transcendentalism. In essence, it's the philosophy of deriving spiritual principles from nature, much in the same way these days you can see biomimicry derive engineering principles from nature.

But Emerson's philosophy developed over the years, and that's what makes this book indispensible for any Emerson fan. Over the addresses and lectures published in this book in roughly chronological order, you can see how his philosophy matured. A big reason is the Harvard Divinity Address, in which he chided the church and traditional Christianity. There was a huge fallout from this, and his later talks became more tempered and balanced, but not watered down. His philosophy emphasized experience more and idealism less, but without neglecting his original idealism. This edition was particularly helpful because the editors wrote excellent introductions to each part, explaining what was going on in Emerson's life and mind at the time, derived from his journals.

My favorite addresses and lectures in this book are The Divinity School Address and Man the Reformer. Lectures on the Times is pretty good too. The others are mediocre. The Young American seemed a little out of character for Emerson, a not-very-passionate patriotic advocacy for expansion to the west, building railways, and for America to develop an intellectual legacy of its own.

[Peter J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot say enough good about Emerson. The man has been hugely influential on my views. He had the courage to think; to boldly rely on his own reason and conscience. I know that he had to go through much personal tragedy to develop this level of internal strength. May god bless his soul, wherever, or whatever it is now. Thank god for us future generations that god inspired this man to take up the pen and document his profound thoughts.