assignment is designed to increase your knowledge of one major early American writer; to enhance your research, synthesis, and documentation skills; and to develop information literacy. Focus on one of the authors

Ralph Waldo Emerson

(Grozelier)

Joe Shmoe

Mrs. Burden

ENG 201-80

20 July 2020

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Table of Contents

⎯ Historical Perspective 3-4

⎯ Biographical Information 5-6

⎯ Representative Works: “Each and All” 7-8

⎯ Representative Works: “Give All to Love” 9-10

⎯ Critical Resources Analysis 11-12

⎯ Reflection 13-15

⎯ Bibliography 16-17

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Historical Perspective

Ralph Waldo Emerson lived from 1803 to 1882—a time where the United States is

expanding rapidly in terms of land, economy and population. Over his lifetime, the United States

experiences the War of 1812 against the British army, the “Era of Good Feelings” as told by one

Bostonian journalist, and the Transcendentalism movement.

The War of 1812 took place against the British army after Britain and France had been at

odds with one another. The British army had previously been fighting with the French army

during the Napoleonic Wars, and are trying to cut off supplies to the French territory. The United

States trades with both countries at this time but are willing to cut ties with one country if the

other does so as well. This increases tensions between the United States and Britain and

eventually leads to war.

The Era of Good Feelings was coined by a Bostonian editor who wrote an article after the

visitation of President Monroe to the New England area in the beginning of his presidency. As

the Federalist party came to a halt, the citizens of United States felt a sense of unity among

themselves and others, and President Monroe begins working to abolish political parties

altogether. The Era of Good Feelings happened just after the War of 1812, so there was a sense

of nationalism and patriotism rushing through the country that essentially brings people together

despite their differing political affiliations.

However, within this Era of Good Feelings there are also some mixed feelings towards

government leading to the philosophical movement known as Transcendentalism. This

movement appears around the later years of the 1820s and moves into the 1830s. It centers

around the idea of the power of the individual and the individual’s freedom. The

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transcendentalists tend to believe that government and organized political parties interfere with

an individual’s freedom essentially corrupting them.

The War of 1812, the Era of Good Feelings, and the Transcendentalism movement are all

take place during the life of Ralph Waldo Emerson. These events alongside events that take place

within Emerson’s lifetime influence his work and outlook on life.

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Biographical Info

Born in Boston on May 25, 1803, Ralph Waldo Emerson was the fourth of eight children

to William and Ruth Haskins Emerson. At just eight years old, Emerson’s father abruptly passed

away, leaving his mother as the sole provider for her large family. Emerson’s aunt, Mary Moody,

made the decision to come live with his family in order to help care for and discipline the

children, and she soon became the central influence of Emerson’s childhood. Moody was self-

educated, widely read, and she taught her nephews to set high goals and do the things that scare

you, which are lessons in which Emerson came to rely on throughout his lifetime.

Following his graduation from Harvard University in 1821, Emerson attended the

Harvard School of Divinity, became a licensed minister in 1826, and was ordained to the

Unitarian church in 1829. In that same year, he married Ellen Tucker, but the marriage was

short-lived, as she died just two years later of tuberculosis. After her death, Emerson began

questioning his faith causing him to resign from his church position and begin his travels. Once

he returned home, he remarried to Lydia Jackson and began lecturing on the personal nature of

spirituality.

In the 1830s, Emerson gave his lectures that integrated his new philosophy, now known

as American Transcendentalism. Writers in this philosophical group, including the well-known

Henry David Thoreau, shared the belief that individuals could move beyond physical world

senses into deeper, spiritual involvement through free will. This new belief was thought to make

life better by allowing individuals to transcend past the struggles and as individual’s souls rise,

there would be grater experiences of the things that are good.

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Throughout his next twenty years, Emerson continued his success by founding and co-

editing a literary magazine as well as writing essays and poems based on transcendentalism,

including Essays, Nature, and Self-Reliance, which are some of his most famous works. He

began advocating for the abolition of slavery in the 1860s and continued his writings throughout

the 1870s, despite his failing health. Emerson passed away on April 27, 1882 from pneumonia,

but his beliefs and ideas continued to be strong influences on the works of many others long after

his death.

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Representative Works: “Each and All”

Does it matter where the things we love are placed? Can they be just as beautiful

anywhere? Or does the placement of the object truly matter? Emerson’s “Each and All” tells a

story of the newfound belief of the nineteenth century—everything in the world shares an

interconnectedness. In his poem, Emerson uses objects of nature to depict this philosophy. He

portrays an image of a sparrow singing a beautiful song down by the river but once he takes the

sparrow to his home, his song lost all beauty. In the same sense, he tells a story of walking down

a beach shore and picking up the delicate seashells along the way. Once he takes them home and

looks at them, he no longer finds them beautiful. Throughout the poem Emerson uses examples

to further prove that lovely items are only lovely in their original setting. To really grasp the

beauty of an object, he encourages individuals to use all their senses to take in the sights, smells,

sounds, etc. of the surroundings. Only then will someone be able to appreciate the true beauty of

the object.

“Each and All” is one of Emerson’s poems that best represents the new philosophy of the

mid 1800s—American Transcendentalism. Transcendentalists considered everything in the

universe to be intertwined and interconnected in more ways than one. Individuals in this

philosophy group believed that things in the universe were meant to work in communion with

each other. Emerson displays this belief through the lines “All are needed by each one; / Nothing

is fair or good alone.” This poem focuses on the connection between the things of nature. For

example, Emerson wrote about listening to a sparrow’s song but once he was removed from his

singing place at the river, his song was no longer pleasing. Without considering things in the

context in which they were placed, the object will be forced to take on a new perspective which

may decrease its beauty. When looking at the bird and its surroundings such as the river, trees,

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sky, etc. Emerson describes the situation as being “the perfect whole.” To be able to appreciate

the beauty of nature, individuals must not focus on one single object but instead they must view

beauty in the context of its surroundings. Another example in “Each and All” that further backs

up this belief is when Emerson refers to himself picking up seashells by the shore. He saw them

as treasures but once he brought them home, they were unattractive. The shells were only

beautiful when lying on the sand at the ocean shore. Emerson strongly influenced this new

literary, philosophical, and religious style, and his poems pursued the idea that everything in

nature has an interconnectedness.

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Representative Works: “Give All to Love”

Can one truly love without choosing to give all of oneself? According to Emerson’s

“Give All to Love,” finding true love requires sacrifices such as giving up prosperity, plans, and

muse. Readers are urged to withhold nothing from love but instead to follow love utterly for

there will be rewards. To do this, Emerson speaks about what courage and bravery it will require

and the fact that not everyone is willing to see what love actually costs. Emerson personifies love

as a master that is in control and directs all relationships. He focuses on the importance of giving

all for love in order experience all the emotions that are governed by love. To love and be loved,

Emerson quite literally encourages readers to “Give All to Love” no matter what that may entail.

Emerson was a writer of the American Romanticism age and the romantic style shows in

“Give All to Love.”. American Romantics consisted of writers of the mid-1800s, and like

Emerson, their works emphasized an emotion of love, nature, and individualism. In “Give All to

Love,” Emerson takes on the perspective of a speaker in order to effectively impact his readers.

He encourages individuals to pursue love, but in order to do that, they must be able to give up

wealth, relationships, plans, and muse. Giving up those luxuries of life is going to take courage,

but Emerson describes it as being necessary to fully love and be loved. He tells readers to

“follow it utterly” and in the end, “it will reward.” What he means by this is that finding true

love will make all the sacrifices along the way worth it. The Romanticism movement that took

place in America during the mid-1800s still influences the things we value as Americans today.

The values of individualism, emotion, and imagination were spread through the Romantic

literary movement, and they are still prominent in America today. The reason writers like

Emerson were so important is because America was still in its early stages. While under British

control, people were subjected to follow the rule of nobles. They were never allowed to be their

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own person, have their own beliefs, etc. But, writers such as Emmerson taught American’s the

importance of individuality and emotion and those values continue to be important in American

culture hundreds of years later.

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Critical Resource Analysis

Constantinesco, Thomas. “Discordant Correspondence in Ralph Waldo Emerson's

‘Friendship.’” The New England Quarterly, vol. 81, no. 2, 2008, pp. 218–251.

This essay written by Thomas Constantinesco is a critical analysis of Ralph Waldo

Emerson’s sermon “Friendship.” Constantinesco uses Emerson’s sermon to discuss Emerson’s

ideas of what a true and ideal friendship looks like. He looks at letters between Emerson and his

friends like Henry David Thoreau and others and discusses what Emerson believes and ideal

friendship looks like. Not only can Emerson imagine what a good friendship consists of, but

because of these accounts, he is able to give specific information and accounts of true friendship

making his arguments about the foundations of friendship even stronger. He moves forward to

evaluate Emerson’s friends as actually having several differences and the way those differences

and relationships play a role throughout Emerson’s sermon. This article articulates friendships

and how they are both personal and impersonal. Constantinesco does not appear to be biased in

his work as his tone only seems to be matter of fact. This article allows the reader to see and

analyze Emerson’s view on relationships between people.

Hodder, Alan D. “‘After a High Negative Way’: Emerson's ‘Self-Reliance’ and the Rhetoric of

Conversion.” The Harvard Theological Review, vol. 84, no. 4, 1991, pp. 423–446.

This article written by Anna Hodder is a critical analysis that discusses Ralph Waldo

Emerson’s essay titled “Self-Reliance” and how to this day it still carries much weight with its

audience. This article discusses the division that tends to stand between Emerson’s audiences and

critics. It seems that on one hand, people find Emerson’s ideas to be somewhat repulsive and

filled with defects, but on the other hand, his audience finds his ideas compelling and

worthwhile. It also discusses self-reliance as a secular ideal. While Hodder mentions Emerson’s

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ideas about theology, he also goes into detail about Emerson’s deconstruction of God, self, soul,

etc. He moves on to discuss Perry Millers affirmation that Emerson’s ideas and beliefs stem

from Transcendentalism and that Transcendentalism originated as a religious demonstration.

This article seems to provide a solid argument surrounding “Self-Reliance” and Emerson’s

beliefs. Hodder does a good job of presenting ideas surrounding “Self-Reliance” and its ties to

Transcendentalism. It does not appear to be biased as the article provides arguments from both

sides of Emerson’s audience. Considering this article is published by The Harvard Divinity

School, it shows that the writer has the credentials to make the claims he does on Emerson’s

work. Through his work, this writer allows his audience to have further insights on Emerson’s

beliefs and his role in the Transcendentalist movement.

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Reflection

Before beginning the research for this project, I knew very little about Ralph Waldo

Emerson. In my high school English class, we briefly read “Nature” and “Self-Reliance,” two of

Emerson’s most famous poems, and we discussed Emerson’s role in American

Transcendentalism. Other than that, I had never really talked about Emerson and his work and I

knew nothing besides the fact that he was a renowned American Poet, Essayist, and Lecturer.

Once I began researching Emerson, I started to see how his childhood provoked his

works. He spent a lot of time with his aunt, Mary Moody, who really sparked his interest in

critical thinking and writing. She earned her title as Emerson’s “earliest and best teacher” and

although their beliefs began to fall out of line later in life, he still considered her effects on his

life to be “a blessing which nothing else in education could supply” (Percy).

Emerson earned his title of “Father of Transcendentalism,” as this newfound literary,

philosophical, religious, and political movement was centered around him. Emerson worked

closely with Henry David Thoreau and they both had the goal of using their writing to show the

interconnectedness of the universe. In many of his poems, Emerson personified different

characteristics of nature in order to provide readers with a better understanding of the

relationships shared throughout creation. He was also a major influential Romanticism writer and

his works strongly emphasized the idea of individualism. He believed that individualism went

hand in hand with self-happiness and he expressed these ideas in his essay, “Self-Reliance.” He

encouraged individuals to live a life of courage and inconsistency and to never base their lives

off the negative opinions of others around them. Emerson helped influence the mid-nineteenth

century society by sharing his belief that choices and decisions made by individuals would have

a greater positive impact on society in comparison to uniformed actions.

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After encountering the treatment of slaves in the South in 1826, Emerson joined a group

called the Saturday Club which involved a group of writers and philosophers who openly shared

their anti-slavery beliefs. While the Civil War was taking place, Emerson gave speeches pushing

for the abolition of slavery. In 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act which made it

illegal to assist runaway slaves and it required those slaves to be returned to their owners.

Emerson was outraged by this law and said, “I will not obey it. Slavery poisons and depraves

everything it touches… Union is a delectable thing, and so is wealth, and so is life, but they may

all cost too much, if they cost honor” (Harvard Square Library). He continued to speak out

against slavery and published essays and poems calling for the eradication of this inhumane act.

At the time of the Civil War, Emerson expressed his opposition to slavery and had

already been involved in intellectual conversations about the topic with President Lincoln. He

shared many of the same attitudes with President Lincoln, but he was disappointed in some of

Lincoln’s decisions to place preserving the United States above abolishing slavery. He felt as if

Lincoln was prioritizing the wrong thing in this situation, but he remained a close friend with

him despite some of their disagreeing views. After Lincoln was assassinated, Emerson delivered

the eulogy at his funeral in which he praised Lincoln for the task he had accomplished.

Emerson was never considered to be the best American writer, but his works and beliefs

influenced the works of American writers forever. He established an American literary tradition

that separated American writers from the British writers. He emphasized the importance of

individuality as well as the beliefs of a democracy. Although many of us do not see it, Emerson’s

principles and ideas are still at the center of American culture even today. Knowing that

Emerson’s beliefs are still important today further proves how influential of a man he was. He

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not only influenced the writers and philosophers that came after him, but he will continue to

influence the views of American’s forever.

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Bibliography

“Abraham Lincoln (15 April 1865) Eulogy by Ralph Waldo Emerson.” The Complete Works of

Ralph Waldo Emerson RWEorg, www.rwe.org/abraham-lincoln-15-april-1865-eulogy-

by-ralph-waldo-emerson/. Accessed 18 July 2020.

“Emerson and Anti-Slavery.” Harvard Square Library, 21 Mar. 2014,

www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/emerson-and-anti-slavery/. Accessed 18 July

2020.

“Emerson and Individualism.” American Political Thought, 5 Sept. 2016,

polsci307.blog/2016/09/04/emerson-and-individualism/. Accessed 18 July 2020.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Each and All by Ralph Waldo Emerson.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry

Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45877/each-and-all. Accessed 12 July

2020.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Give All to Love by Ralph Waldo Emerson.” Poetry Foundation,

Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50464/give-all-to-love. Accessed

12 July 2020.

“Influences.” The Home of Ralph Waldo Emerson, 2018,

www.ralphwaldoemersonhouse.org/influencers. Accessed 8 July 2020.

Lewis, Peirce F., and Reed C. Rollins. “The United States from 1816 to 1850.” Encyclopedia

Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 12 July 2020,

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www.britannica.com/place/United-States/The-United-States-from-1816-to-1850.

Accessed 15 July 2020.

Percy, Lucy. “Mary Moody Emerson.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, 15 May 2020,

emersoncentral.com/texts/lectures-biographies/mary-moody-emerson/. Accessed 17 July

2020.

“Ralph Waldo Emerson.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 22 July 2019,

www.biography.com/writer/ralph-waldo-emerson. Accessed 8 July 2020.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, lithograph by Leopold Grozelier, 1859Courtesy of The Library of

Congress, Washington, D.C. Accessed 8 July 2020.

“Ralph Waldo Emerson's Childhood.” Harvard Square Library, 21 Mar. 2014,

www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/biographies/ralph-waldo-emersons-childhood/. Accessed

8 July 2020.

Reimann, Matt. “Ralph Waldo Emerson's Influence: An American Literary Tradition.” Our Blog,

blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/ralph-waldo-emersons-influence-an-american-literary-

tradition. Accessed 18 July 2020.

Sack, Harald. “Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Transcendentalism Movement.” SciHi Blog, 25

May 2019, scihi.org/ralph-waldo-emerson-transcendentalism/. Accessed 18 July 2020.

“Transcendentalism, An American Philosophy.” Ushistory.org, Independence Hall Association,

www.ushistory.org/us/26f.asp. Accessed 15 July 2020.