Ralph Waldo Emerson: Selected Essays, Lectures and Poems
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Book Overview
A new, wide-ranging selection of Ralph Waldo Emerson's most influential writings, this edition captures the essence of American Transcendentalism and illustrates the breadth of one of America's greatest philosophers and poets. The writings featured here show Emerson as a protester against social conformity, a lover of nature, an activist for the rights of women and slaves, and a poet of great sensitivity. As explored in this volume, Emersonian thought is a unique blend of belief in individual freedom and in humility before the power of nature. "I become a transparent eyeball," Emerson wrote in Nature, "I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God." Written over a century ago, this passage is a striking example of the passion and originality of Emerson's ideas, which continue to serve as a spiritual center and an ideological base for modern thought.
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0553213881
ISBN13:9780553213881
Release Date:September 1990
Publisher:Random House Publishing Group
Length:416 Pages
Weight:0.47 lbs.
Dimensions:0.9" x 4.4" x 6.9"
Customer Reviews
3 ratings
At long last: someone worth reading....
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 18 years ago
I discovered Emerson at age 34, and it was like coming home. I have always been, I guess, a natural "transcendentalist". In other words, I instinctively and intuitively fell into a transcendentalist mindset and way of thinking without ever having read any. So I've read Thoreau and Annie Dillard and frankly can't stand either of them. I find them a little strained. Emerson, to me at least, is a different story. He writes like a god. He writes with authority, poetry and insight. He, to me, is worlds apart from someone like Dillard...hard to say exactly how. I just know that his writing is brilliant, brilliant...free, courageous, honest. A big part of it for me is his passionate and deep understanding of God coupled with his rejection of "corpse-cold" religion. If you are a seeker, if you have an open mind, you will find few better than this.
Selected Essays, Lectures and Poems by Emerson
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 19 years ago
Emerson affirms the individual and self-reliant aspects of life. Early in life, Emerson lost his father and 3 year old sister Mary Caroline. The author demonstrated the power of expression in translating truth to both verse and music. Some famous quotes from the book are as follows: - The perfect friendship requires a rare nature.. - The fountains of my hidden life are through thy friendship fair. - Man (person ) is all symmetry. - Great geniuses have the shortest biographies. i.e. Plato had no biography per se. A strength of this work is that the author presents classic sayings/quotations of Emerson in the original literary mode. It will be appreciated by literature enthusiasts everywhere.
excellent retrospective of ages
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 26 years ago
histories, biographies, criticism, singular people like woodmen are the heroes through the ages; a booh making us stronger.
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