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Ralph Waldo Emerson Facts

Ralph Waldo Emerson Facts
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, philosopher, and lecturer, as well as a poet who is best known for leading the mid-1800s transcendentalist movement. He was born May 25, 1803, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Ruth Haskins and Reverend William Emerson. Ralph was the second son of five sons born to the couple that would survive to adulthood. He had three siblings that did not survive. Ralph's father died weeks before his 8th birthday and he went on to be raised by his mother and aunt. Ralph attended Boston Latin School in 1812 at the age of 9. He went to Harvard in 1817 when he was 14. He worked part time to cover his education costs. He was class poet and graduated in 1821 at the age of 18.
Interesting Ralph Waldo Emerson Facts:
As a student at Harvard Ralph Waldo Emerson worked as a waiter and teacher occasionally with his uncle.
After four years at Harvard Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a poem to deliver on Harvard's Class Day which was an important pre-graduation celebration at the school. Emerson was not the first choice to write the poem but because others turned down the opportunity it was offered to him.
Waldo taught young women after finishing his education at Harvard. He taught at his brother's school for girls and later ran the school while his brother left to study in Germany.
Waldo studied at Harvard Divinity School and was licensed to preach in 1826.
Waldo was forced to move to a warmer climate in 1826 because of his poor health and failing vision, so he moved to St. Augustine, Florida, where he met Napoleon Bonaparte's nephew Prince Achille Murat.
In Florida Waldo also preached and wrote poetry.
Waldo and Murat often spent time discussing philosophy, society, religion and government and Waldo credited Murat as an important person in his own education intellectually.
Ralph Waldo Emerson established himself as a preeminent voice of his time, with his views on individualism and the divine. He wrote essays about this such as 'Nature', and 'Self-Reliance'.
Ralph Waldo Emerson married Ellen Louisa Tucker when he was 26 and she was 18. She died two years later from tuberculosis. Waldo tried to deal with his sadness by writing.
Ralph Waldo Emerson gave more than 1500 lectures during his lifetime which made him a very wealthy man.
Waldo's lectures covered topics such as nature, his travels, and religion.
In 1838 Ralph Waldo Emerson gave a talk at the Harvard Divinity School during graduation. It was called the Divinity School Address and became one his most famous talks because it was controversial and covered radical ideas of individual power taking precedence over religious doctrine.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was a critic of Jane Austen's work. He was not a fan of the single-minded focus on marriage. He felt she was not very creative in her writing.
Waldo married Lydia Jackson in 1835 and had four children together. Their first daughter was named in honor of Waldo's first wife, Ellen.
Ralph Waldo Emerson died in 1882 from pneumonia. He had previously given the dedication to the cemetery where he was buried.


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