'A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.' Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882) was an American essayist and poet. One of the young nation's first recognised public intellectuals, he championed the writing of Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman and opined on everything from the evils of slavery to the glories of solitude. His essays such as Self-Reliance argued for a distinctly American style of philosophical individualism, untethered to hidebound traditions and prejudices. Edited by professor David Mikics (The Annotated Emerson) and enhanced with gorgeous woodcuts by Charles W. Smith, this collection of Emerson's essays and poetry is a beautiful introduction to one of America's greatest writers and thinkers.
One tiny act of kindness can have a huge impact. And in this heartwarming, hopeful, absolutely true story, a simple letter does just that. A true story that quickly went viral, this is now a timely, extraordinary picture book. Sincerely, Emerson follows eleven-year-old Emerson Weber as she writes a letter of thanks to her postal carrier, Doug, and creates a nationwide outpouring of love. This is a story of gratitude, hope, and recognition: for all the essential helpers we see everyday, and all those who go unseen. Perfect for sharing alongside such favorites as Pat Zietlow Miller and Jen Hill's Be Kind and Matt de la Peña and Loren Long's Love. There are lots of ways to help the world go round: Some people collect the trash. Some stock grocery shelves. Some drive buses and trains. Some help people who are sick. Some deliver our mail. And some people write letters.
Illustrated by classic American paintings and photographs, and accompanied with a prescient new appraisal, this stunning publication on Emerson’s seminal 1836 essay is at once a meditation on the ways artists influence each other and a timely cri de coeur to cherish and preserve America’s landscape. Widely considered to be the foundational text of the American landscape tradition, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Nature urges Americans to value and immerse themselves in their country’s landscape, to build American culture from America's nature. Nearly two centuries after the original publication of the essay Nature by Emerson, this captivating book by critic and historian Tyler Green brings together a selection of artistic works in dialog with Emerson’s text for the first time. Green also offers his own fascinating take on Nature through new research into how the essay was informed by Emerson’s experiences of art and, in turn, how it informed American art well into the twentieth century. The result is a unique melding of essay, art, and ideas that will draw new readers to Emerson’s writings, while also introducing a fresh perspective on a critical contribution to the American canon and showing what impact Emerson's text still has for the US to this day.
Arranged for daily inspiration, wisdom from one of America's great visionary and philosophical minds. "A chief event of life is that day on which we have encountered a mind that startled us." A Year with Emerson is a feast of 365 such days. Known throughout the world for his cogent, epigrammatic writing, admired as the "George Washington of American Literature," his work is even more enriching in bigger doses. Daily almanac entries present the heart of Ralph Waldo Emerson's ideas and philosophy. Some were written on the very day in which they appear in the book, some are speculations and musings of the season and the natural world, but all are unfailingly wise, still relevant to our modern times. Emerson's mind ranged across the universe even as he traveled the length and breadth of the United States and Europe. With Emerson as a companion and guide, we meet the ideas and personalities he championed and encountered, from Lincoln to John Muir, from Carlyle to Montaigne, and, of course, the close New England circle of Hawthorne, Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, and the Alcotts. With company such as this, and the scope of Emerson's vision, you're sure to encounter rich food for thought every day of the year.
Recipient of the Francis Parkman Prize from the Society of American Historians Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of the most important figures in the history of American thought, religion, and literature. The vitality of his writings and the unsettling power of his example continue to influence us more than a hundred years after his death. Now Robert D. Richardson Jr. brings to life an Emerson very different from the old stereotype of the passionless Sage of Concord. Drawing on a vast amount of new material, including correspondence among the Emerson brothers, Richardson gives us a rewarding intellectual biography that is also a portrait of the whole man. These pages present a young suitor, a grief-stricken widower, an affectionate father, and a man with an abiding genius for friendship. The great spokesman for individualism and self-reliance turns out to have been a good neighbor, an activist citizen, a loyal brother. Here is an Emerson who knew how to laugh, who was self-doubting as well as self-reliant, and who became the greatest intellectual adventurer of his age. Richardson has, as much as possible, let Emerson speak for himself through his published works, his many journals and notebooks, his letters, his reported conversations. This is not merely a study of Emerson's writing and his influence on others; it is Emerson's life as he experienced it. We see the failed minister, the struggling writer, the political reformer, the poetic liberator. The Emerson of this book not only influenced Thoreau, Fuller, Whitman, Dickinson, and Frost, he also inspired Nietzsche, William James, Baudelaire, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, and Jorge Luis Borges. Emerson's timeliness is persistent and striking: his insistence that literature and science are not separate cultures, his emphasis on the worth of every individual, his respect for nature. Richardson gives careful attention to the enormous range of Emerson's readings—from Persian poets to George Sand—and to his many friendships and personal encounters—from Mary Moody Emerson to the Cherokee chiefs in Boston—evoking both the man and the times in which he lived. Throughout this book, Emerson's unquenchable vitality reaches across the decades, and his hold on us endures.
This beautifully illustrated rendition of Emerson's beloved poem is an ideal way to introduce youngsters to Emerson's poetry. Full-color illustrations.
Emerson remains one of America’s least understood writers, having spawned neither school nor follower. Those wishing to discover or reacquaint themselves with Emerson’s writings but who have not known where or how to begin will not find a better starting place or more reliable guide than David Mikics in this richly illustrated Annotated Emerson.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, the greatest of the Transcendentalists, is often considered to be the central thinker in American history. In essays such as "Self-Reliance" and poems such as "Concord Hymn," he gave voice to ideals that Americans have held dear ever since. Critical Companion to Ralph Waldo Emerson is a reliable and up-to-date resource for students interested in this prolific author. This illustrated volume examines Emerson's life and 140 of his most important works, including all of his major essays and 60 of his poems. Coverage includes: A concise but thorough biography Entries on major books; lectures; essays, such as "Self-Reliance," "Nature," and "The Over-Soul"; poems, such as "Concord Hymn," "Brahma," and "Merlin"; and more Entries on related people, places, and topics, including Henry David Thoreau, Concord, the Transcendental Club, Unitarianism, the Dial, and more Appendixes, including a chronology of Emerson's life, a bibliography of his works, and primary and secondary sources.
A soul-satisfying collection of 12 essays by the noted philosopher and poet who embraced independence, rejected conformity, and loved nature. Includes the title essay, plus "Character," "Intellect," "Spiritual Laws," "Circles," and others.
