Self-Reliance is an 1841 essay written by American transcendentalist philosopher and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson. It contains a stirring call for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency, and to follow their own instincts and ideas. It contains one of Emerson's most famous quotations: A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." The essay, possibly Emerson's most...

Follow the thoughts of essayist, poet and American Transcendentalism founder Ralph Waldo Emerson as he discovered his own belief system in the anthology "Self-Reliance and Other Essays." In "Self-Reliance," Emerson explained that standing on one's own two feet against society was essential to forming a strong union with God. Once this essay was published, it received both wild praise and hurtful backlash from different factions of America. However,...

During the 1800's in America, the rise of technology allowed people to have more possessions than ever before, and at a cheaper cost. However, a group known as the Transcendentalists believed that possessions created vanity. Instead, they valued the individual's relationship with divinity. One of the movements most famous members, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote prolifically about his beliefs and experiences, and many of those writings have been chronicled...

The essay on "Prudence" was given as a lecture in a course on Human Culture, in the winter of 1837-8. It was published in the first series of Essays, which appeared in 1841. In it, Emerson describes Prudence as "The virtue of the senses" and admits to having little of it in himself.

In The Poet, an essay by U.S. writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, the author expresses the need for the United States to have its own new and unique poet to write about the new country's virtues and vices. It is not about men of poetical talents, or of industry and skill in meter, but of the true poet. After reading the essay, Walt Whitman consciously set out to answer Emerson's call. When the 1855 edition of Leaves Of Grass was first published, Whitman sent...

The American Scholar was a speech given by Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1837, to the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College. Emerson argues that American culture, still heavily influenced by Europe, could build a new, distinctly American cultural identity. Emerson uses Transcendentalist and Romantic points of view to explain a true American scholar's relationship to nature. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. declared this speech to be America's Intellectual...

Emerson's treatise on the nature of friendship. "The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one.

Circles is an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson, first published in 1841. The essay reflects on the vast array of circles one may find throughout nature and what is suggested by these circles in philosophical terms. In the opening line of the essay Emerson states The eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second; and throughout nature this primary figure is repeated without end.

"The Conduct of Life" by Ralph Waldo Emerson is a thought-provoking and inspiring collection of essays that explores the principles and virtues guiding a purposeful and ethical existence. In this enlightening work, Emerson imparts wisdom and guidance on how individuals can lead a meaningful life filled with integrity, self-reliance, and moral character. Throughout the essays, Emerson delves into the conduct and choices that shape human lives. He examines...

In 1834, Emerson, formerly a Unitarian minister, began a new career as a public lecturer. Many of these lectures formed the source material for his essays. Nature (1836), his first published work, contained the essence of his transcendental philosophy, which views the world of natural phenomena as a sort of symbol of the inner life and emphasizes individual freedom and self-reliance. Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson is a collection of twelve of his most...