Ralph Waldo Emerson

THE FATHER OF TRANSCENDENTALISM

Ms. WhitakerRalph Waldo EmersonEarly Life: Expectations lead to Identity CrisisBorn May 25, 1803 in Boston, MAFather was a clergyman, who died of tuberculosis when Emerson was 8, and left mother with 6 children Attended Boston Latin School, followed by Harvard University age 14; expected to follow in footstepsLicensed minister and ordained to Unitarian churchTragedy Strikes, of CourseEmerson married Ellen Tucker in 1829; she died of tuberculosis less than two years laterHer death contributed to his crisis of faith; resigned from the clergyTook off to Europe to converse with other writers of the timeRemarried Lydia Jackson after return to U.S.Fame and influence grew with idea that individual souls were part of a larger entityEmersons BeliefsDid not see past as importantRejected institutional religion; in favor of a personal relation with GodReligious truth cannot be received secondhand but is intuitiveYoung people and intellectuals optimistically responded to ideas about relationship with God, nature, and humanityTranscendentalismBelief that every person would transcend, or move beyond, the physical world of sense into deeper spiritual experience through free will and intuitionUpholds personal nature of spiritualityKnow and understand God and yourself by looking into your own soul and feeling connected to natureTragedy StrikesAGAIN!Emersons son Waldo died of scarlet fever at age fiveCould not cope with thisLater suffers memory loss and difficulty recalling ordinary wordsDied in the fall of 1881.