Define Books Conducive To The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Original Title: | The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Modern Library Classics) |
ISBN: | 0679783229 (ISBN13: 9780679783220) |
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Paperback | Pages: 880 pages Rating: 4.36 | 3248 Users | 138 Reviews

Specify Of Books The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Title | : | The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Author | : | Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | Modern Library Classics |
Pages | : | Pages: 880 pages |
Published | : | September 12th 2000 by Modern Library (first published November 15th 1983) |
Categories | : | Philosophy. Classics. Nonfiction. Poetry. Writing. Essays. Literature |
Commentary To Books The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Introduction by Mary OliverCommentary by Henry James, Robert Frost, Matthew Arnold, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Henry David Thoreau
The definitive collection of Emerson’s major speeches, essays, and poetry, The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson chronicles the life’s work of a true “American Scholar.” As one of the architects of the transcendentalist movement, Emerson embraced a philosophy that championed the individual, emphasized independent thought, and prized “the splendid labyrinth of one’s own perceptions.” More than any writer of his time, he forged a style distinct from his European predecessors and embodied and defined what it meant to be an American. Matthew Arnold called Emerson’s essays “the most important work done in prose.”
INCLUDES A MODERN LIBRARY READING GROUP GUIDE
Rating Of Books The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ratings: 4.36 From 3248 Users | 138 ReviewsWrite Up Of Books The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson
My ratings of books on Goodreads are solely a crude ranking of their utility to me, and not an evaluation of literary merit, entertainment value, social importance, humor, insightfulness, scientific accuracy, creative vigor, suspensefulness of plot, depth of characters, vitality of theme, excitement of climax, satisfaction of ending, or any other combination of dimensions of value which we are expected to boil down through some fabulous alchemy into a single digit.I found this astounding collection of essays rather hard to get through. Not because they were bad, or poorly written, but because they were so wonderful. While I thought some of his ideas were rather questionable - I'm not a big fan of natural theology (at least as I understand it) - his positions were still clearly made and forced me to seriously consider a number of my positions. Some parts I struggled to understand, but after thinking about them for a bit I found the ideas so great that I
Ralph Waldo Emerson is probably my favorite philosopher/poet. He combines poetry and prose wonderfully, treating human affairs, emotions and morals purely as aspects of nature, and all of nature as having the same soul as people. The range of his subjects is wide and varied, from the most metaphysical aspects of reality to the most mundane actions of daily life. Despite him having written in the mid 19th century, and often writing more as a poet than most philosophers, his writing is pretty

I read Emerson's short book "Nature," collected within this collection. Emerson's brand of non-Christian natural spirituality is fascinating, but his writing style doesn't do much for me. I wouldn't be surprised if Emerson's recommendation to go into nature influenced Thoreau at Walden. So: 3 stars for the purple prose, 5 stars for this anthology of a nineteenth-century superstar's most famous work, and an average of 4 stars overall for the volume.
Self-Reliance contains the most prominent of Ralph Waldo Emersons philosophies: the need for each individual to avoid conformity and personal inconsistencies, and to follow their own instincts and ideas. Youre to rely on your own self versus going with the ebbs and flows of culture at large. Other essays in the collection focus on friendship, history, experience, and more.
Don't think I'll read the whole thing, but:At first I had no clue what Emerson was talking about, and I chalked it up to him being all transcendentalist. Then I got to "Intellect" and things started to hit home. Then I read (ironically enough) "Transcendenalist" and not only did I become convinced that (1) Emerson is worth reading and (2) Emerson is worth reading as philosophy but also that (a) he lines up well with a lot of pragmatic ideas and (b) he lines up well with a lot of my own personal
Emerson was a philosopher, poet, and essayist. Though hes credited with being one of the fathers of Transcendentalism, the New England movement that privileged idealism over empiricism and found a natural divinity in all things, he valued independent thought above adherence to any creed or system. Since the best of Emerson is the phrase, the sentence, the paragraphcall it the majestic sound bite (he was, after all, a riveting public speaker)the best way to approach his work may be to just open
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