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BORN:
In Boston, Massachusetts, 1803.

EDUCATION:
· Graduated from Harvard University at age 18.
· In 1825, he went to the Harvard Divinity School.

FAMILY:
Married Ellen Tucker and she died 17 months later.


A little about his writing:

Emerson went to Europe and met many British writers and poets. He came back from Europe in 1833, and he settled in Concord, Massachusetts. He lectured in Boston. Addresses such as "Human Culture" and "The Present Age" were from his Journals (1909-1914). His Journals were a collection of notes and things from his education at Harvard. As he began to write more and more, his philosophies of life opposed the popular Calvinistic views. His Nature book, the first published, showed his idea of a Transcendental life (Transcendentalism). He applies his transcendentalistic thinkings to most of his works.

Essays

His first volume of essays was made in 1841 and includes the majority of his most popular works. A few of these being "Self-Reliance", "Prudence", "Heroism", and "Art". The second sequence of essays consists of "The Poet", "Manners", and a few more.

Lectures

In 1847 to 1848, Emerson lectured in England again. Some of the lectures he gave were put together in a collaborative volume called Representative Men (1850). This collection is my favorite and contains essays about famous figures such as Plato and other philosophers and writers.

Other

One of Ralph Waldo Emerson's most popular and not to mention quickly popularized books was The Conduct of Life, produced in 1860. In this series of essays were essays like "Power", "Fate", and "Culture". The Conduct of Life gives the reader a good idea on Emerson's philosophy on the world and what can happen with power and money. I've read a few sections to it and thought it was really stimulating!

Emerson also wrote poems. A collection called May Day and Other Pieces, wrote in 1867, was Emerson's last piece of work before he slowed down. He stopped writing for a duration of time. His mental capabilities went downhill and eventually many years later he wrote Society and Solitude in 1870 and Parnassus (1874), another example of his poetic works. Sadly, the great philosopher and writer died in 1882.