The Transcendentalist Movent and Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Recommended: Theory of Ralph Waldo Emerson

The transcendentalist movement began in the 1830s. Many leaders throughout this movement expressed their beliefs and ideas through writing. The transcendentalist movement’s main focus was on independence. There were many people involved in this movement, but the most important person was Ralph Waldo Emerson. He became a leading spokesman and played a key role in the transcendentalist movement.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in 1803 in Boston (Cayton). He is the son of Ruth Haskins Emerson and William Emerson. He is the third son and has four other brothers. Ralph Waldo Emerson came from a long line of New England ministers. His father, William Emerson, also ministered for a living. Many expected Emerson to become a minister like his father, but he chose to follow a different career path. Ralph Waldo Emerson graduated from Harvard, where he later worked as a school teacher. He was also excellent at writing sermons and preaching (Wayne “Ralph Waldo Emerson” 98). Ralph Waldo Emerson began writing poetry at the age of nine, and continued to write throughout his life. In addition to becoming a writer, he also became a minister in Boston at the age of twenty-six. Also, in 1829 he married his wife Ellen Tucker Emerson. She inspired him to continue to write and some of his poems were about her (Kane 361). She died just three years after they got married in 1831. After she died Emerson decided to travel to Europe and focus on his work. Once he came back from his trip to Europe he married Lidian Jackson Emerson. He also chose to become an essayist and a speaker. He lectured on natural history, literature, and self-culture (Wayne “Ralph Waldo Emerson” 99). Ralph Waldo Emerson was a very successful, and much of his success came from the inspir...

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...e Group. 2001. Literature Resource Center. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
Kane, Paul. “Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882).” World Poets. Ed. Ron Padgett. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2000. 359-367. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
Von Frank, Albert J. “Essays: The First Series (1841).” The Cambridge Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson, eds. Joel Porte and Saundra Morris. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999, 106-120. Print.
Wayne, Tiffany K. “Fate.” Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism. 2006. Print.
Wayne, Tiffany K. “Nature.” Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism. 2006. Print.
Wayne, Tiffany K. “Ralph Waldo Emerson.” Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism. 2006. Print.
Wayne, Tiffany K. “Self-Reliance.” Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism. 2006. Print.
Wayne, Tiffany K. “Transcendentalist Movement.” Encyclopedia of Transcendentalism. 2006. Print.

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