1. RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803-1882)

2. Born in Boston in 1803 Brought up in a strictly religious household Went to Harvard to study the ministry, like the eight generations before him ◦ Read a great deal of philosophy and theology

3. Accepted a ministry post at age 25 His young wife died 17 months later of tuberculosis Started having doubts about some of his religious doctrines ◦ Left his position and traveled throughout Europe  Met up with Coleridge and Wordsworth

4. Moved back to the States and remarried His first major work was an essay called “Nature” Started to give lectures At Harvard, gave famous “The American Scholar” speech ◦ Implored American scholars to free themselves from the past Gave another speech at Harvard: “Divinity- School Address” ◦ Seemed anti-religious & wasn’t invited back to Harvard for three decades

5. Resided in Concord Was a leader of the Transcendentalists Met often with other famous writers/thinkers of the era ◦ Henry David Thoreau was his “pupil”

6. His son, Waldo, died of scarlet fever at age 5 (1842) ◦ Wasn’t quite the same emotionally after that Suffered major memory loss in later years ◦ Couldn’t recall ordinary words Referred to himself as a poet, even though he wrote prose Nicknamed the “Sage of Concord” The intellectual center of the “American Renaissance”