Ralph Waldo Emerson: A Study of His Life and Writing Advice

Ralph Waldo Emerson is a famous American 19th-century poet and essayist—although if you were to ask what exactly he influenced, giving a simple answer would be difficult because he influenced so much. While some people of his time argued that he wasn’t that good of a poet and that he should’ve stuck to only writing essays, today both of his major outputs are studied in colleges across the country. He is most well-known for his impact upon the Transcendentalism movement—so, let’s unpack the life and writing of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who preferred to go by Waldo, and see what we can learn from him.

Emerson's Life

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1803, and, in the words of William Green wouldn’t merely leave his fingerprints all over literature, but also all over how people approached their lives. Today, he is remembered as one of the “one of the most important transcendental writers and thinkers of his time”—his works decried slavery and spoke such radical topics such as national identity, free will and fate.  He spoke as a lecturer for fifty years!

It all started with Emerson’s father’s death when Emerson was only eight years old. According to this article describing his childhood from Harvard Square Library, the family grew up in incredible poverty, so much so that the two young brothers only had a single overcoat to share, and Emerson had to take turns with his brother, Edward, upon going to school. Due to their father’s death, their mother stepped in to take care of them and educate them. Ruth Haskins Emerson was a deeply religious woman who, having no means of support, sold her husband’s library and took in boarders as a way to provide for her children. She wanted them to be “pious and dutiful,” grateful for their “eternal welfare,” because if they had good minds then that meant they’d have the opportunity to be well-read, learned, and most importantly, able to get a Harvard education. The article states that young Ralph Waldo Emerson wasn’t resentful of their poverty but considered it as a circumstance for discipline that could help keep his eye upon the realities of life and away from “frivolity.” He did “not give into self-pity;” this seems a remarkable reaction and evidence of an extremely hardy personality, considering the two brothers only had a single coat to share between them and the family even had some struggles procuring food.

Emerson’s mother Ruth enlisted the help of the boy’s aunt to help raise them, and she ended up having a major impact on Emerson’s life. She was the “dominant influence” of his childhood—with a formal education and a “fertile mind,” this widely read woman introduced Emerson to Hindu scriptures, Neoplatonism, and natural religion.” With her intellectual inquisitiveness, she influenced him to open up his mind, as well as taught him “the defiant right of the individual reader to question texts,” a perspective that would influence his writings as an adult and be present in how he wanted readers to approach his work.  

In 1829, Emerson married a woman named Ellen Tucker—but unfortunately, she died less than two years later. Emotionally devastated over the loss and now having “severe doubts” about his religious beliefs, he resigned from his position in the church and spent most of 1833 touring Europe—likely in a depressed, heartbroken wanderlust—using the inheritance he received from Ellen’s family, who were very wealthy. This money helped support him financially for the rest of his life—a sharp contrast to the poverty he grew up in. During his travels, he met and befriended many prominent writers such as Thomas Carlyle, and they were lifelong friends.

Emerson returned to America, and there he began expressing his changed perspective on so much that had previously upheld his life using written essays. In 1836, he published his essay, “Nature”—today, it's known as one of his most famous—which has become cited as the origin point for his ideas about Transcendentalism. In fact, Emerson has become so closely linked to the movement that many people thought he founded it—however, this is a misconception, since other writers and thinkers of the time came together in a group they dubbed the Transcendalistis years before Emerson even published “Nature.” Furthermore, according to Dr. Ann Woodlief, “Nature” represented ten years of intense study in philosophy, religion, and literature. Emerson’s writing about Transcendentalist ideas, as well as his growing reputation, ended up making him the most famous of the Transcendentalist writers.

Emerson made his living as a public speaker in the late 1830s. Back then, people would gather in droves to listen to influential people discuss current events and philosophical topics. As such, Emerson fit this role perfectly, and over the course of his life the money he earned from such lectures was a “major portion of his income.” In a way, it’s heartwarming to know that a boy who grew up in immense poverty was blessed with people such as his aunt who led in in the right direction so he could have a stable life and that he learned to take what he believed in, turn it into something thought-provoking, such as his famous essay “Nature,” and then make his musing available via public lecture for others to become influenced by. He took what he knew and used it to improve his life. Even though much of his personal life was beset by grief, he used his personal beliefs to push forward and keep himself financially stable.

However, sometimes the things he believed in and spoke about could land him in trouble. In 1838, he was invited to give the commencement address at Havard Divinity School—and the address he gave “ignited a huge controversy.” The talk was all about “radical” Transcendentalist ideas such as loving nature and relying on oneself. As mentioned above, Emerson clearly has a strong personal reason to advocate for self-reliance—however, the faculty and clergy of Havard Divinity School found his address to be a “calculated insult,” and, incredibly, he wasn’t invited to speak at Havard for decades because of it.

Emerson's Poems and Essays

Both Emerson’s poems and essays are bursting with personality, and, of course, Transcendentalism. Ellen Moore writes that many people back then thought that while he could technically write good poems, they weren’t great ones and he should stick to writing essays. Some critics thought he never really mastered the art of writing poetry while some others disagreed. Today, readers focus more on his essays, and that’s why “most think of Emerson first as a Transcendentalist, next as an essayist, then a philosopher, and perhaps at some point he is considered a poet.” She goes on to say we should be grateful critics weren’t satisfied with his poetry, because if he’d been skilled enough to write the poems he wanted to, then Emerson might have never written the essays and speeches he is the most famous for.

And yet, while Emerson’s poems may not be as widely regarded as his essays, they still hold ideas essential to how Emerson viewed the world and what he wanted to put back into it. The poem “Boston Hymn” is written from the perspective of God, who tells people they need to consider what paths they’re on in life. He uses a deity as a narrator again with “Brahma,” where the Hindu god of creation tells English readers about “essential themes of metaphysics and spirituality,” as described by Sujantra McKeever in his analysis. For instance, the first stanza is about the immortality of our souls, and that most people fear death and don’t know their soul is immortal because they’re too focused on the real world. As such, William Greene states that “Brahma” has “direct connections to the basis of Transcendentalism.”

Emerson also had a fascination with India. Some scholars today think that Emerson’s early Transcendentalism was “shaped in ignorance of Indian philosophy,” but this isn’t true, insists Robert C. Gordon, Ph.D., in his article “Emerson's Earliest Interest In India.” The fascination possibly began with stories from his father around the fireplace, was a “definite interest” by the time he went to college and went on to influence his poems and point of view—it caused him to understand that there was a reason behind every trembling leaf in the natural world.

This article from the Poetry Foundation writes that even though Emerson’s poems about South Asia, China, Persia, and the Arab world suffered from misconceptions and stereotypes due to the fact he—like other readers and writers of his time—“relied heavily on British colonial agents for his knowledge,” even so his 1821 poem “Indian Superstition,” did something highly unexpected considering the time period: resisting British colonialism and the idea that uncivilized people could be redeemed by it. This is a wonderful breath of truthful fresh air considering the time period he grew up in and the misconceptions his work had no choice but to suffer from—even considering the rest of the poem, which still “is perhaps closer to caricature” than art. Emerson urged the Indian people to “resist the shackles of the British Empire as forcefully as they should resist the mental chains of religious superstition.”

While such themes are vital, his essay “Nature” ultimately became the better-known work, which was published in 1836. The poem’s line, “I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God,” is, according to Tim Marcin’s 2011 paper, “the most important quote in all of Emerson’s work,” for it essentially explains the entire inspiration behind all of them.

Simply put, as Dr. Oliver Tearle writes in her examination of the essay, Emerson promoted the idea that it was good for you, body and soul, to become one with nature, and to do so involves disappearing “into a new identity” where a person can become one entity with the universe. The chapters of “Nature” examine different aspects of it. For instance, the first argues nature is a source of boundless curiosity, and that when “the right mind” looks upon the beauty of nature, that beauty and curiosity are never used up. The second chapter focused on the advantages “our senses owe to nature”—that nature has parallels within our human-made societies, and that both are beneficial. The third covers its multiple beautiful aspects: it’s restorative, for one, and for another, the human eye is the best “artist” because it can keenly perceive and appreciate nature’s beauty.

Emerson's Massive Influence

Matt Reiman describes Emerson as someone who might not be the best American writer, although he is certainly “an indispensable one” who is responsible for establishing “a literary tradition of the Americas, one markedly separate from that of the Old World.” Despite the fact many poets and writers surrounding him would eventually become more famous, the “current of influence flows outward” from Emerson and Emerson alone. He inspired people such as Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, who once said, “I was simmering, simmering, simmering; Emerson brought me to a boil.” When Emily Dickinson published her poems anonymously, the way they were written was so obviously inspired by Emerson that readers believed he wrote them. Emerson was so influential and famous that he even attracted the notice of Herman Melville—author of the classic Moby Dick—who attended one of his lectures. He went on strolls with Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of the American classic The Scarlet Letter and was also famously associated with Henry David Thoreau. Today, Thoreau is known as that one author who lived by himself in the woods, and he did this to demonstrate Emerson’s teachings that advocated for self-reliance and being one with nature.

Joel Gladd writes that Emerson wanted Americans to focus on the everyday things that happen in the present since he thought they tended to focus heavily on the past. He wanted them to learn that God was everywhere, and poets should help reveal this. Emerson had an “immensely creative output” that would give rise to what modern scholars call a “a uniquely American canon of literature,” so much so that the poetry of America today is “heavily indebted to Emerson’s unique ‘syncretic’ approach to philosophy and religion.”

As Matt Reiman puts it, modern scholars view Emerson as an “essential” writer, and all other American writers must walk upon ground Emerson walked on first—such is the staggering enormity of his influence.

 Emerson's Writing Philosophy

If you’re curious about Emerson’s writing process, luckily there’s plenty about it in the man’s own words. This article from the Poetry Foundation describes that in his collection “The Poet,” Emerson describes writing good poetry isn’t merely about being technically good, that it isn’t about just meter. Rather, it’s about having thoughts that are “passionate and alive,” that a poet must speak “somewhat wildly” instead of speaking merely with intellect. In other words, he knew one of the most fundamental secrets of writing, the most important thing that should come before all else, but that perhaps some writers forget—that writing from the heart is the most essential, vital thing any author must have.

Emerson spoke out against colonialism during a time when the majority of British people thought it was good. He advocated for the importance of nature in everyone’s daily lives and how it can enrich your life. He used his poetry and essays to truly put what he believed into the world—and it worked, for some of the most famous poets were greatly influenced by him. So, whatever type of story you are writing, remember Emerson when you sit down for your next writing session. Write from the heart and “speak wildly” with your stories and you will create something bursting with truth and individual perspective that no one else can create. Who knows? You could end up inspiring people!